


Cursed

by Ambivalenthia



Series: Cursed or Something [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Dark Leia Organa, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Minor Character Death, Skywalker Family Drama, Skywalker Family Feels, The Dark Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2020-12-21 04:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 27,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21068477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambivalenthia/pseuds/Ambivalenthia
Summary: Following the events of Thirteenth, sixteen-year-old Leia Skywalker struggles to reclaim that which was taken from her.  It doesn’t help that there is something very wrong with her father.  Not to mention Mara Jade still wants to kill her.  Life couldn’t get more complicated, could it?





	1. Blind

Leia wanted to scream.Everything was a million times harder without the force.It had been three months and not a drop of her old awareness had managed to seep through whatever block the Jedi had put in her mind.At least she hoped that whatever the kriff the kriffing Jedi had done, it was something that could, eventually, be penetrated.

Mara was no help at all.Not only was her former best friend still furiously mad at her (with good enough reason, Leia supposed) but she was also unstinting in putting her proving her superiority at physical combat. But Mara hadn’t killed her yet and that meant that she didn’t really want to, probably. Hopefully.

Leia understood.She certainly hadn’t been planning to do what she’d done, but she also didn’t regret it, not one bit.Her father was Emperor now.That was… She smiled.Vader was singularly unsuited to diplomacy, even Palpatine’s version of itwhich tended domination and conspiracy.But that was fine.If Vader wanted access to any of the top military or political minds of the Empire, they were his to command, as was the Imperial Navy.If only he had somewhere to point it. He was a creature of war, but the obvious enemy, the rebellion, was lying low.

She didn’t envy her father his position and outright refused to get involved with his government.She was, she supposed, a part of it by default, as the Imperial Heir, but so what? Vader wasn’t going to make her do anything she didn’t want to do. Luke could have the job for all she cared.Let the Empire be a Jedi Empire and she’d just, well, retire to Wild Space or something.She wondered if she, too, was a creature of war.She’d certainly known what her mission was, when she served Palpatine.Everything had been so clear cut, and she’d thought the only direction she could go was up.

The kriffing Jedi, this was entirely their fault and she should gear up and destroy them.Okay, so maybe she had been slightly ‘out of control’ when she went ‘full dark side’ as Ashoka Tano had called it.But it had felt so good, no hesitation, straight and unimpeded like a blaster bolt through a line of Gizka.

She needed to kill something. Maybe she should go and deliberately provoke Mara into a fight, it would hurt, but at least she wouldn’t feel so frustrated with everything.

Mara, snake that she was, wasn’t not in her chambers.Leia decided to head underground.At least she could kill some combat droids.But the training room was not empty.Mara was working out, and so was paragon of the light, and Imperial Prince, Luke Skywalker.Lovely. The last thing she needed was for the two of them to start something. 

“Leia!” Her ridiculously enthusiastic brother greeted her warmly. He had gone through none of the trials she had.He’d barely even met Palpatine.Kriff, the worst thing that had ever happened to Luke was probably that time when Leia threatened to blow up Chandrila and its ten billion inhabitants if he didn’t come with her.And even that had turned out well for Luke. 

“So now you two are training together?” She asked doubtfully.Mara Jade rolled her eyes and kept on lifting weights.If Mara still had the force she’d be worried about incoming projectiles, but as it was, she should be okay as long as she didn’t turn her back on her former friend.

“Now it can be the three of us!” Luke said with far too much optimism.

Luke was doing lightsaber katas, and Leia fell in beside him. This was good, it was calming.Everything was fine. 

Leia broke off the kata and stared at her brother.“Are you kidding me right now?” She couldn’t believe Luke was trying to calm her with the force.

Luke blushed, “You seemed stressed.”

Leia threw up her hands, “I have every right to be stressed.You wouldn’t understand.What those Jedi did to me…”

Luke rolled his eyes, “Yeah, it sucks when powerful force users come and disrupt your life and give you absolutely no choice about your future.I certainly have no idea what _that’s_ like.”

Sarcasm from Luke?How much time was Luke spending with Mara?

Luke shrugged and gave her a tiny smile.

“Don’t you read my mind, Jedi scum!” Leia drew her lightsaber.Just because she couldn’t access the force didn’t mean she couldn’t kill things with a laser sword. 

Luke patiently lit his own blue saber and gamely dueled her, to the extent of her abilities, not his.Even this was infuriating.He was compassionately humoring her?How dare he!

Leia broke off the duel, too irritated to focus.She needed to get the force back.It had been the one good thing in her life, and without it she was just… Imperial Princess and heir to the throne?So what? 

She strode over to Mara, who put down the weight she was lifting and raised an eyebrow.“I’m sorry, okay?I made a mistake.”

Mara smiled coldly, “I’d say.”

“Listen, we need to get out of here, let’s go hunt down the Jedi and get our powers back.” Leia urged her hopefully no longer former friend.

Mara sighed, “You think they will just _give_ us our powers back? The last thing they want is Darth Leia Lord of the Sith terrorizing the galaxy.”

“I should have destroyed them all when I had the chance!” Leia bit out.

“Oh, and when was that?When they had you in a force cage, or when they collared you?”

“I could have called Palpatine to Yavin 4. The Deathstar was operational.He could have wiped the Rebels out.” Leia explained icily.

Mara considered this.“Yeah, he should have.And you with them.”

Leia looked tiredly at Mara, “It was a split second reaction, Mara, I had just found out that he murdered my mother to save Vader for kriff’s sake.”

“It is what we do!” Mara screamed at her.“We were Sith!We were one step away from ultimate power and you ruined it.”

Leia nodded, “Yeah.”

“That’s all you have to say? ‘Yeah’?” Mara seethed. 

Leia shrugged, “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“It was.” Luke interjected, from across the training hall. “He was evil.”

Leia and Mara turned as one and advanced on Luke, who stood his ground, smirking.

“He was everything.” Mara hissed.

“He gave us everything.” Leia agreed.

Luke lit his saber, “I know both of you are thinking about attacking me right now, and I’m gonna try not to hurt either of you as I defend myself.”

Leia thought of all the times she could have murdered this boy and didn’t.She drew her saber.Mara did likewise.

Luke gave them an infuriatingly patient smile then force pushed them both back to opposite ends of the room.Mara was first to sprint back to him, her violet blade streaking through the air.Violet met pale blue, and as they clashed sabers Leia snuck forward.The Jedi never should have divided his attention.She launched herself onto her brother’s back, wrapping her legs around his waist bringing her saber to his throat.Luke pushed Mara back across the room but didn’t try to shake Leia off. 

“Surely you realize I sensed you were going to do this.” He said softly. 

Leia turned off her saber and settled for looping her arm around her brother’s throat. “If sacrificing you would bring my powers back, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”

Luke did _something_ in the force and Leia found herself pinned to the practice mats by an invisible hand.

He stood looming over her, smirking. “I’m sorry you messed up your life by killing the evilest man who ever lived, Leia.Maybe someday your powers will come back and you can murder everyone who has ever looked at you the wrong way.”

Leia managed a smile. “Just see if I don’t.”


	2. Orders

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, Leia thought but didn’t say.She didn’t need to say it, she knew she was heard all the same.Kriffing Jedi and their absolute disrespect for mental boundaries.Someday she’d show them all.

“Well, hello there!” Obi-wan Kenobi said with an easy smile, turning from where he had stood in conversation with her father, the Emperor.

“Hello.” She replied coldly, looking between Darth Vader and his former Master. 

“Daughter.” Vader somehow sounded pleased to see her. Of course he was, she rarely sought out his company these days.

She looked at Kenobi, she wanted to ask if her force powers would ever come back.Perhaps, as Kenobi had been part of the team who had done this to her, he could set it to rights.But, as Mara had so deftly pointed out, he wasn’t likely to do that, was he?

“Master Jedi,” She bit out, struggling to be diplomatic. “I didn’t realize you were here on Imperial Center.”

“To be honest I am as surprised as you are.” Kenobi chuckled, “But Anakin has long had a habit of surprising me.”

Anakin.Was that a fresh affectation on Vader’s part, or a jibe from Kenobi?

“Yeah…” She drawled, letting doubt show clearly on her face. “He’s full of surprises.”

“How _are_ you, Leia?” Kenobi asked, as if he weren’t responsible for everything that was going wrong in her life.

She smiled tightly, “Still force-blind, Master Jedi, but you know that already, don’t you? How long will this last?”

Kenobi considered her calmly, “I’m afraid Leia that entirely depends upon you.”

So it is possible to reverse, Leia thought. That was… a faint hope, but better than nothing. “What do I need to do?”

Kenobi smiled smugly, “I couldn’t say.”

He made her _so_ angry, “You Jedi have taken away the best part of me, and you have the nerve…”

“Calm yourself, Daughter.” Vader snapped. 

Leia rounded on her father, “Are you making peace with the Rebels?Is that why _he_ is here?”

Vader coughed.“No,I will never do that.”

“Leia, the Jedi don’t represent the Alliance to Restore the Republic.” Kenobi lectured.“In fact, when it comes to the Skywalker family we have agreed to disagree.”

Leia folded her arms in front of her chest, wishing she was taller. “Alright then, what do the Jedi want with the Skywalker family?”

“I invited him, Daughter.” Vader rumbled. “To assist with Luke’s training.”

Leia narrowed her eyes, “As a Jedi.”

“Of course.”

“But you two hate each other.” Leia protested weakly. Really, things had been so much better with Palpatine as emperor.If Vader was willing to even tolerate Kenobi’s presence on Imperial Center, then he was weak indeed.

“Enough, Daughter,” Vader said harshly, “You must move past your anger.”

“Oh really? Like you did when you served as Palpatine’s executioner for the last two decades?” Leia shot back with a snarl.

“Enough.” Vader shouted, pointing at her. “I am your Emperor and you will obey me.”

Leia was held fast with the force, she stared at her father helplessly. If Vader would just give into his anger, things might start looking up.

“I command you to report to Admiral Piett on the Executor.There you will receive my orders and you will follow them.” Vader ground out. 

Leia blinked. Maybe there was hope for her father yet.

Vader released his hold in the force and Leia was able to regain her balance, “Very well, my Emperor,” She hoped that whatever mission her father had for her, it involved killing a lot of sentients. 

She snapped off a salute instead of a bow and stormed away from the two Jedi.

“Your Royal Highness, we are most honored by your presence onboard the Executor.” Admiral Piett was a man of tight, professional mannerisms and well known for his unswerving loyalty. She hadn’t worked directly with him before, but she knew her father had long respected and trusted him.

“Admiral Piett, thank you for receiving me.I admit, I wasn’t expecting to be sent here, but it’s good to get off Imperial Center.” Leia replied.

“Yes, Ma’am.If you’ll follow me, I will show you to your suite and we can discuss the situation.”

Situation?That sounded promising.Leia realized, as she walked with the Admiral, that she hadn’t bid her brother farewell.Oh well, he had Jade for company. 

When she and the Admiral were inside the executive suite which would be Leia’s quarters, the man waited for her to sit then seated himself.He looked nervous.Leia supposed the Admiral had no idea she’d lost her force powers. He was just a loyal Imperial facing Darth Vader’s daughter. 

“Please Admiral, explain.” She insisted, curious despite herself.

Piett inclined his head, “The Executor will escort you to Naboo.Further orders await you on your arrival.”

Leia exhaled through her nose, she had long been interested in visiting her mother’s home planet. She had met her cousin Pooja, but there were more Naberries on Naboo, her blood kin.She wondered if this ‘mission’ from Vader was a prize or a punishment.She rather suspected it would be both.

When the Executor arrived at Naboo, Leia’s orders were, unsurprisingly, to make contact with the Naberries.She took a lambda-class shuttle to the surface, with Admiral Piett’s assurances that the Executor would not be far away should she require any kind of assistance.

At least this wasn’t a state visit, she told herself. As long the Nabooine government didn’t find out she was on the planet, perhaps she could relax a bit. Whatever, for now it was a mission Leia could carry out with minimal fanfare, which was what she desperately craved.

Someone familiar was waiting for her when she landed. “Pooja!” Leia cried, genuinely glad to see her cousin.

Pooja Naberrie beamed, “Leia, you’re finally here! Everyone is so excited to meet you!”

Leia embraced her cousin, then took a step back, suspicious, “When were you notified I’d be coming?” 

“About ten days ago.”

So Vader had had this mission, or whatever it was, in the works for awhile. That made it less likely to be a punishment, at least not for Leia’s most recent snark.

Leia forced herself to smile gently, “Well, it is lovely to be here.”

Pooja led her to a speeder manned by a uniformed driver.They flew around the periphery of Theed, the planetary capital. It reminded Leia greatly of the Coruscanti Diplomatic Sector, but on a smaller scale. There were no thousand story buildings here and far more of the city was done in stone andeven wood.It was charming, and lush with trees and flowers. 

“I think this is the nicest planet I’ve ever been on since Alderaan.” Leia breathed.

Pooja smiled, “As the home planet of the previous Emperor we’ve had some advantages.”

Leia wondered vaguely if Tatooine would receive any advantages now, as it her father’s birth place. She doubted it, he really hated that planet.

“How are things since the regime change?”Leia asked.

Pooja shrugged, “About the same.”

They entered Theed proper and landed on the roof of a modest town house.There were several well-dressed people on the landing pad, all looking eager to meet her.

Leia sighed inwardly and decided she would put all of her effort into being nice to these people.This was her mother’s family.They didn’t deserve to be punished for her bad mood.

She was introduced first to her maternal grandparents, Jorbal and Ruwee. Then she met her aunt Sola, and her cousin Ryoo, who was Pooja’s elder sister.

She was quickly escorted to the interior of the building and found herself in a luxurious sitting room, the focus of five pairs of Naberrie eyes.Her grandmother, Jorbal, who had to be at least seventy-years-old was weeping softly, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Leia.“Your Royal Highness, we couldn’t be happier to meet you.”

Leia smiled at the older woman, “Please just call me Leia. I’m not here in my capacity as Princess, I’m here to know my family.”

Ruwee seemed to approve of this statement and smiled at her with tired eyes, “We’re glad Pooja could finally convince you to visit.” He said gravely. “We’ve followed you on the Holonet, of course.”

Leia winced, why _had_ she waited so long? “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come before now, but things are different now that— we have a new Emperor.”She smiled, hadn’t she just said she wasn’t here for politics?

Ruwee steeled himself then asked a question that didn’t really surprise her, though she could tell it pained him to ask. “I’m afraid Pooja told us your father the Emperor was formerly known as Anakin Skywalker. I’m finding that very hard to believe.”

Leia nodded.Her father’s identity wasn’t a secret anymore, or she never would have been allowed to claim the name Skywalker.But so far, even if parts of the populace had connected Darth Vader with the Clone Wars General, they made very little mention of it. “It is true.But even I think of them as different people most days.He— changed a lot, as I understand it.”

Jorbal smiled sadly, “We always wondered what had happened to that young Jedi who was so enamored with our Padme.But Leia dear, are you happy on Coruscant?Does he treat you well?”

Too well, Leia thought darkly.“I’m very happy on Coruscant,” she replied quickly. 

The Naberries nodded knowingly. “That’s good dear.” Jorbal replied. “Now you must have a thousand questions about your mother.”


	3. Diplomacy

The word surprised couldn’t quite encompass how Leia felt when the Queen of Naboo came to call on her at the Naberrie house.Sosha Soruna was an elected queen, but still a queen, carrying the mantle of her royalty in a stately way Leia had never even thought to attempt. The Naberries were quick to retreat to the upper levels of the house, leaving Leia to speak with the Queen privately.

“Your Royal Highness, we beg you forgive us this impertinence, but we couldn’t not greet the Heir to the Empire.”Soruna’s voice was a dead monotone, another queenly affect, Leia guessed.Her costume was a stunning beaded headdress and gown, dark blue laced with pin stripes of red.Her face was painted completely white but for a crimson line at her lips.Leia felt plain in her company.

“Your Majesty, I should have notified you I was on the planet.Though I am sure you can understand the desire to fly under the radar.” Leia explained.

Soruna cracked a smile. Her demeanor of queen dissolved and she began speaking in the first person. “As a former pilot, yes, I can understand that.My handmaids often take my place so that I can do just that.”

“Your Majesty—” Leia began.

“Sosha.” The Queen insisted.

“Sosha, I hope you do realize I am not on Naboo in any formal diplomatic capacity?”

Sosha Soruna smiled carefully, “I find, your Highness, the best diplomacy lies in knowing our allies and enemies well.As such, I find myself in the position of offering you some information about your enemies, in the hope that you and I may be even better allies in the future.”

Leia raised an eyebrow, “My enemies?”

“The Rebel Alliance.”

“Oh, _those_ enemies. Have you had contact?”

Sosha inclined her head, “Yes.”

“A location?”

“Not precisely. They made an overture to us. They also made references to a snow planet.” The queen explained.

Leia filed that away. It wasn’t much, but it was the best lead they’d had on the Rebels in quite awhile. “They wanted Naboo to join the Rebellion?”

“It was a compelling offer, protection in exchange for enlistees.”

“Protection?” Leia repeated.

“Our planet is demilitarized by Imperial Decree, if we were in the Core, this would not be an issue. But due to our location so near the Outer Rim, a lack of planetary security leaves us intensely vulnerable to pirates.” Sosha explained delicately.

“Forgive my ignorance, but surely Palpatine was sensitive to that situation.”

Sosha smiled tightly, “The former Emperor kept a Star Destroyer, the Overseer, in orbit.”

Leia blinked, “And my father withdrew it?”

The queen shook her head, “I believe it was part of the ship’s remit to return to Imperial Center should anything befall Emperor Palpatine.”

Leia stifled a dry laugh, “That does sound like something he would do.So… the Rebellion offered to help.I appreciate that you have brought this to me.I assure you I will petition my father on your behalf.” 

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“A snow planet.” Leia said wonderingly. “That is valuable information. I imagine you’d prefer to reinstate your planetary defense force rather than have the Overseer back?”

The queen laughed at that, “Yes, we would vastly prefer that.”

Leia stood with her arms crossed in front of the transmitter, waiting for her father to appear on the Holo. “Why did you send me to Naboo?” She asked as soon as Darth Vader’s holographic image came to life.

“Have you found something?” Vader asked sharply.

Leia inclined her head, “Something I would like to discuss with you in person.”

“Very well, Daughter, you may return.”

Her father’s eyes were so blue now, though his skin was as pallid as ever.“What have you discovered?” Vader asked when his hyperbaric chamber’s door had sealed.

“The Rebels have a base on a snow planet, if my information is correct.”

Vader looked at her with interest and fondness. “That is useful, I shall relay it to Grand-Admiral Thrawn.But tell me, did you meet your Naberrie relatives?”

Leia rolled her eyes, “Well, My Emperor commanded me to do so, so I didn’t have much of a choice.But yes, Father, they are very... nice people.”

“Good.” Vader smiled.“I believe the excursion has done you well, Leia.”

Leia shrugged, “The Queen of Naboo would like to reinstate their planetary defenses.”

Vader blinked, “Very well.Anything else?”

Leia considered the question, “I did wonder if you were going to give Tatooine any special consideration.It is the Emperor’s home planet, though I don’t suppose many people know that.”

Vader looked contemplative, “Do as you will, Daughter.”

Leia caught her breath at that, “What?”

“You are heir to this Empire and hold my mandate.If you wish to give your attention to Tatooine, you may do as you will.Perhaps arial bombardment?”

Leia laughed, “You really hate that place, don’t you?”

Vader narrowed his eyes, thoughtful. “Yes. But your brother is intensely fond of it. You must make up your own mind.The Executor will accompany you.”

Leia leaned back, floored. Had Vader just given her Tatooine and the use of the Imperial Navy?

Vader smiled, “My daughter, you are a creature of action, do what you will.”

Leia felt a surge of excitement.Avenues of possibility were opening up in her imagination.“May I take Mara?She has experience with Hutts.”

“You’re back!” Mara cried, seeming genuinely glad to see her, thank the stars.

“You seem… happy to see me?Is this a trap?” Leia asked tentatively.

Mara smiled toothily, “I got a sighting on Bridger. He’s got his powers back. I figure that pushes back the timeline on any plans I have for your slow and painful death.”

“I’ll take it.” Leia agreed gamely.

Mara shook her head.“Seems Bridger was spotted running an op with his old gang, the Specters.”

“Where?”

“Sullust.”

Leia considered the import of Ezra having his powers back.It meant, for starters, that whatever the Jedi had done was reversible or somehow curable.It was hardly a surprise that he’d rejoined the Specters.

She grinned, “That’s right in the neighborhood of our mission.”

“Our mission?”

“We’re going to Tatooine."


	4. Sand

****_You are my daughter and hold my mandate._Leia repeated her father’s words to herself as she gazed out the viewport of the ISSD Executor.Tatooine was a brown and golden globe, being baked thoroughly by twin suns. 

This would just be a first foray onto the desert planet, for nostalgia’s sake, she supposed, just as her visit to Naboo had been.Then they would go to Sullust, track down Ezra Bridger, and force him to tell them everything about how the hells he’d gotten his powers back.

She thought Mara looked quite pretty in white. Mara _never_ wore light colors, and seldom varied from pure black. But black was just out of the question in the desert. They both wore creamy white homespun just as Luke had been wearing when she’d first met him. Beneath their loose clothing, though, they had their lightsabers, comlinks, blasters, credits, and water.

They parked their shuttle at the coordinates her father had given her. It was a shabby domed farm, mostly set underground, for coolness, she guessed.

To the east were several grave marker, and it was to these she made her way first.

Cliegg Lars and Shmi Skywalker.It struck her that Luke had grown up here, knowing his own true name.From what she’d gathered, his aunt and uncle had fed him lines about his father being a spice freighter pilot, though she suspected that was the Outer Rim iteration of one’s father going out for a pack of death sticks and never coming back.

Well, Luke had his father now.Their father. Though perhaps, Leia thought, it could be argued that while she was Darth Vader’s child, whereas Luke belonged to Anakin Skywalker.She’d have to think about that.

“Hello?”An elderly female voice sounded behind her and she spun around. “What are you doing on our property?”

The plain faced woman was not overtly hostile, but clearly, unexpected company was not appreciated in these parts.

Leia showed her hands were empty, nodding to Mara to put away her blaster.

“Are you Beru Lars?” She asked.

The woman looked as though she’d seen a ghost, “You can’t be Padme!” She gasped.

Leia shook her head, “I’m her daughter. Luke’s sister, Leia.”

The woman looked as though she wanted to cry but doubtless such a thing was rarely done on Tatooine.

“Come inside, both of you.I’ll pour you some milk.”

The inside of the domed home was spartan but clean, very little of the sand followed them inside. 

“You’re the other Skywalker twin?” Beru Lars asked hesitantly.

Leia inclined her head, “Yes, and please Ma’am, know that I am here in peace and I’ve brought you a message from my brother.”

Leia slowly reached into the folds of her white tunic and retrieved the flimsy note Luke had prepared. She placed the note on the table in front of Beru, who was looking as though she realized that having Leia Skywalker, the Imperial Princess, in her home could be a very, very dangerous thing.

Beru read the note, sporadically glancing between Leia and Mara.She relaxed slightly, “Thank you for bringing this.We weren’t sure what to think when Ben Kenobi spirited him away.”

“Ben is actually on Coruscant training him, if that does anything to reassure you.” Leia supplied. 

An older, rough faced man stumbled sleepily into the kitchen from what must have been a bedroom.His face was deeply creased and dark from the sun, and, like Beru, his eyes shone with a sense of recognition as he looked at her.

“Owen, this is Luke’s sister, Leia Skywalker.She’s brought us a letter from Luke.”Beru passed the note to Owen, who looked at it blearily. 

“If you’d like,” Leia offered, “I can have a HoloNet terminal installed in your home, then you could talk to Luke as often as you wish."

Owen Lars’ expression soured, “No.This is no place for such a thing. Now, why are you here?”

Leia smiled calmly, “I’m just trying to learn a bit of my family’s past. I understand this was Luke’s home for most of his life.”

“Till that old wizard convinced him to run off into the stars.” Owen Lars agreed.

“My father was also born on this planet, Shmi’s son, Anakin?”

It was like a cloud settled over the conversation, Anakin had left a bad feeling here, apparently. 

Finally, Beru broke the silence.“Anakin and Shmi were once owned by a Toydarian named Watto. I doubt he’s still alive, but if you’re looking for family history you could ask after him in Mos Espa.

“Thank you. Now, I understand about not wanting the HoloNet, but I feel I should ask, is there anything I can provide to make your lives more comfortable?”

Owen laughed darkly, “We appreciate the note from Luke, Princess, but I think we’ll be a lot safer if we keep on making it on our own. The last thing we want is to be branded as Imperial collaborators.”

Leia inclined her head. “Very well. I’ll leave you my comlink code, in case you change your mind.”

“They weren’t too happy to see you.” Mara commented dryly as they flew their shuttle at low altitude towards Mos Espa.

Leia smiled, “Oh, are your force powers coming back?”

“Nope. Outer Rim people wear all their emotions right on their faces. Ah, here we are, a small town. Lovely.” Mara set them down.

There were more aliens than humans and humanoids on the streets of Mos Espa, some Leia had never even seen before.She noticed a Wookie palling round with a handsome but grubby human male.It must be awful for a Wookie on such a hot planet, she thought, so much hair.

Asking around, she found the ruins of Watto’s old shop. It was not much more than a hole in the wall.There was a cramped apartment over a workshop, but she could imagine a young boy and his mother working here.Slaves.So much of the Empire was built on the back of slaves.She’d know it was common place in the Outer Rim, but she’d never really though about what that must mean in practice.

It was time, she concluded, to return to the Executor. They could wash off the dust, and plan for Sullust. She might have the Emperor’s mandate to change Tatooine, but she had absolutely no idea how to implement it. 

The Executor had rendezvoused with the ISD Chimaera above Sullust.** ** Admiral Thrawn had shuttled across directly and now they were sharing a meal and drinking Alderaanian wine.

“Grand-Admiral Thrawn, it is good to see you again.I believe my father, the Emperor, must think very highly of your skills to leave policing the Outer Rim Territories in your hands.”

“I hope that is the case.” Thrawn answered easily.“May I ask, how is your brother?”

Leia smiled, “He’s doing well.”

“I heard the most fascinating rumor, Ma’am, perhaps it would amuse you if I shared it, as it concerns yourself.”

Leia raised an eyebrow, “Perhaps.”

“An informant of mine credited you with assisting the Rebels with the destruction of the Deathstar. That seemed to me rather out of character for you, but the idea was amusing.”

Both of Leia’s eyebrows were up now, and dammit she wished she could read the man’s mind.

“I know you were no fan of the Deathstar, Grand-Admiral.You made that clear to me last time we spoke.”

“Correct.”

“I am of the opinion, Grand-Admiral, that the Empire is sufficiently dominant in the galaxy even with the loss of the Deathstar. 

“Quite.”

“But as you say, it would have been out of character for me to assist the Rebellion in attacking it.”

She smiled.

Thrawn smiled back.

“I wonder, Grand-Admiral, if you are aware of the exploits of your old enemies the Specters? I head they were active in this region.”

Thrawn inclined his head, “Yes, the Rebel Jedi—turned Imperial Inquisitor Ezra Bridger has turned Rebel once again.They have been a thorn in my side, as you might say, for quite some time.

Leia smiled, “I guess my father failed to turn him completely to the dark side if the Specters have accepted him back.”

“I do not claim to understand the force, Highness, but I would like to retrieve Bridger soon. He killed an associate of mine, a very useful associate.”

Leia nodded, “I’d like to see him as well. Perhaps we can cooperate on this project.”

“That would be most welcome, Highness, you and the boy were friends of a sort, I believe.”

Leia smirked, “Of a sort.”

“Do you suppose he would rescue you if you were abducted on Sullust?”

Leia smiled, “I like to think that he would.”


	5. Sullust

The trick was to disseminate information that Leia was being held on Sullust, without actually bringing the might of the Imperial Navy down on the tactically useful planet. 

And so it was that a rumor was spread that a young human female, who was a dead ringer for the Imperial Princess, was about to be sold as a slave on Sullust.Surely, that would at least lure Ezra Bridger in for a closer look.

Leia even had a slave chip put in, a rather special one that couldn’t be triggered to blow her head off.Rather, it was just a tracker of the same size and shape, now nestled at the bottom of her skull.It would allow Thrawn to track her while she was on the planet’s surface, and she could call for help if she needed it.

So now Leia was a slave, boxed in with other female sentients in awarehouse on Sullust, waiting to be sold. It reminded her of her previous covert operation among the Rebels.Back into the filth, she thought, amused and a bit itchy. Next to her was a yellow skinned Twi’lek wearing nothing but a bikini, and looking completely forlorn.

“They said— I’m supposed to call myself Leia.”Leia whispered.

The Twi’lek looked her up and down. “Well, you do look like her, Sweetie. You been a slave long?”

Leia shook her head, “I was kidnapped, but it’s all confused now. They gave me spice or something.”

The Twi’lek nodded tiredly, “Best not to think about who you used to be. Just serve whoever has his finger on your detonator and you’ll make it through.”

Leia nodded, “What’s your name?”

The Twi’lek glared at her as if she’d asked a stupid question, “That’s for my new master to decide, once I am sold.”

It was early evening, she guessed, when she was hustled out of her cage and into a room filled with costumes and a shelf laden with very unsanitary looking makeup.Her keeper was a large Gamorrean female with a hard face and a powerful grip.

“Right then.We’re to make you up to look like the Imperial Princess.”The Gamorrean looked her up and down, “You’ve got the face for it.Wonder if we don’t sell you to some Moff who wants the next best thing.”

Leia shivered and rubbed the slave chip in the back of her neck, thinking of Thrawn.He was hidden somewhere on the planet’s surface, keeping track every time they moved her.

“Don’t pick at that, now, Princess, you don’t want to blow your pretty little head off, do ya?”The Gamorrean chuckled.“Here now, here’s a nice princessly dress for you.Strip off and let’s have a see.”

Leia did as she was told.The dress, a pinkish red, was far shorter and tighter than anything she had in her closet on Coruscant. She supposed it was the red that made her captor think of royalty. 

Leia forced herself not to tense up as the woman pulled at her hair, forcing it into some semblance of the style she’d worn when she’d been introduced as the Imperial Princess.What Ahsoka had called it?Miniature Amidala.

Sure enough the iconic makeup came next, now she had crimson dots on her cheeks. 

Leia thought about how many, many ways this could go wrong.She could well imagine being sold to some perverted old Moff who wanted to act out some stupid fantasy.Disgusting.She sure hoped Ezra was going to swoop in and save her. What if he hadn’t gotten the message?

It was time to be sold. Leia was led into a plasteel booth and locked in, so her prospective owners could look at every inch of her. Lovely. 

There were indeed some humans in the gathered crowd of sentients, though no one she recognized. She memorized their faces, nonetheless. If she found them later, she would gut them, especially if they were affiliated with the Empire.

“Ah,” A Rodian auctioneer was crooning, “A truly delectable find— by all appearances it is the young Princess of the Empire herself, Leia Skywalker.As she is unspoiled by human reckoning of such things, and already chipped, I will open the bidding at ten thousand credits.

The clamor was deafening. Leia forced herself to breath, she memorize the faces of the non-humans as well. They all deserved death. 

It turned out she wasn’t the only party who thought so. At some point in the hubbub, gas started wafting up from the grated floor of the room. Leia couldn’t smell it yet, but she saw the humans and oxygen breathing aliens begin to panic, then crumple into heaps on the floor. Good. 

Boxed in plasteel as she was, it took a few minutes for the fumes to creep in through the door crack. It smelt… sweet.

Leia woke with a blinding migraine.But she was alive, and, as she managed to let the light into her eyes, found herself among familiar faces, if not particularly friendly ones.

“Drink this,” Sabine Wren snapped, pressing a tumbler of water into Leia’s hands.

Leia drank.It was water with something else added and her headache cleared right away.

“Thank you.” She whispered, glazing around the room at Hera Syndulla, the Lasat, Zeb, Sabine Wren, and of course, Ezra Bridger, who was scowling at her.

“It’s really you.” Bridger bit out, shaking his head.He’d started letting his hair grow again and looked a lot like the boy she’d met over Lothal.

“How the frost did _you_ get sold into slavery?” Sabine demanded. “Why isn’t the Empire even looking for you?”

Leia looked down, she was still wearing the hideous dress she had been given. She plastered on a fake smile,“Ineed to have a word with Bridger, if that’s alright?”

Sabine looked to Ezra, “You good?We’ll be right outside.”She turned to stare at Leia again, “With blasters ready.”

Leia held up her empty hands, “Hey, I come in peace.”

The Specters chuckled as they left her alone with Ezra. Of course they didn’t trust her. She didn’t blame them.

Leia stared at Ezra, his skin had found its way back to its original warm copper color and his eyes were clear and blue.“I’m glad you landed on your feet, Ezra.”

Ezra’s jaw tightened. “You used me to find the Alliance.”

Leia shrugged, “Actually, I gave you a way to find your friends.But yes, you also helped me find the Alliance after I killed Palpatine.”

“You helped them take down the Deathstar at Mon Cala.Why?”

Leia sighed, she’d asked herself that very question many times, “I wanted to weaken my father. It was the best thing I could do, next to killing him outright.”

Ezra looked at her doubtfully. “But now you are all buddy buddy with him again?”

Leia didn’t even want to get into _that_ conversation.“Yeah, more or less.How did you get your powers back?” Leia asked the only question that really mattered.

Ezra looked at her, more amused than angry, “So, that’s what you’re after.You want to know my secret.”

“Yeah.” Leia agreed

“Kriff, Leia, you were scary on the dark side.Do you really want to go back to that?”

Leia gave him a slow smile, “Hey, dark side me is the one that helped you people blow up the Deathstar, you owe me one.”

Ezra chuckled and smiled at her with apparent fondness.“Okay, so you know I was trained as a Jedi Padawan before your dear father decided to swoop in and wreck my life.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Leia asked.

Ezra sighed as if Leia were a bit slow, “Well, after Dagobah, I started over again, doing all the training exercises and meditations that Kanan had taught me. Over and over again. And finally, it began it come back.”

“That’s it?” Leia asked.That seemed far too easy.

“That’s what worked for me, but like I said, I actually _had_ Jedi training to fall back to.You’ve always been dark.”

Leia considered what he had said, it _was_ second nature for her to ignore and generally disregard the light, but… perhaps that was all that was left to her now?She smiled. “Thank you for telling me.And thanks for rescuing me from those slavers.”

Ezra smirked, “It was very obviously the real you, and you do not want to know what some of those slaver sleemos were thinking when they looked at you.”

“So… you are based on Sullust now?” Leia asked.

Ezra rolled his eyes as if exasperated with her, “I think, Leia, that since I just saved you from slavers and answered your questions now would be a good timefor you to admit you are in league with Thrawn who is obviously here to capture us.”

Leia blushed, she had somehow forgotten Ezra had the force.“He won’t come unless I summon him with my slave chip.But yeah, sorry about that, he was eager to help me find you.”

Ezra laughed, “Next time you try something like this, I’m not gonna to bite. Now, will you please give us a bit of time to get airborne before you call in your blue-faced friend?”

“So are we good, Ezra?” Leia asked.

Ezra just shook his head, half a smile on his face.He knocked on the door to the room and Zeb opened it, looking between them curiously.

“Time to go.Her Highness brought friends.”

Just like that, the Specters scattered. Leia waited about five minutes, then tapped the chip at the back of her skull three times, then five times, then three again. It warmed slightly. Thrawn’s people would be on their way.


	6. Forward

Grand-Admiral Thrawn did not seem surprised that the Specters had gotten away, nor did he seem displeased with Leia.In fact, he had been almost cheerful as he saw her back safely aboard the Executor.He was a strange man, but she liked him.She’d told him she’d be nearby on Tatooine and hoped they could keep in touch about any Rebel activity in the Outer Rim.He told her that they were on the cusp of finding the mysterious snow planet, and she would be among the first he informed once they’d found it.

Leia found Mara Jade in the flight simulators. Instead of interrupting her friend she persuaded the officer on duty to let her speak directly into Mara’s headphones as if it were part of the simulation.

“Grey Four, do you copy?”

“I copy.” Mara responded.

“You are ordered to accelerate to maximum speed and fly into the nearest gas giant.”

“Copy that.” Mara responded.Her simulator popped open a moment later.“That’s gonna hurt my scores, you realize.”She pouted.

“Nah,” Leia retorted, “You followed orders, like every good Imperial citizen should.”

Mara nodded proudly, “Ma’am, I’d be happy to fly in to a star with you any time.”

“For me.” Leia corrected.

“Oh hells no, I’m taking you with me, Sithspawn.”

“Aww, such a lovely sentiment.C’mon lets stop creeping out the officer here and go talk somewhere private.”

***

“Kriff.” Mara summed up the situation nicely.“He trained like a Jedi Padawan and it actually worked?”

“That’s what he said.” Leia agreed.

“So what, is it just the dark side that we’re blocked from, cause shouldn’t we be able to sense… something?”

“I don’t know.Maybe it is just a deep compulsion to make us think we don’t have the force?”

“Well if it is, they did a good job on it.” Mara spat.

“So, I think we need to at least try to do what Bridger did.”

“Yeah… but how?I don’t know the first thing about being a Jedi other than that they are as smug as Alderaanians.Um, no offense.”

Leia grinned at that. “I don’t think being smug will be enough to get our powers back.”

“Kenobi _is_ on Imperial Center…” Mara suggested.

“Yes,” Leia replied acidly, “And he’ll be able to read our intentions because he is a kriffing Jedi.There is no way he would teach us.”

“Well that’ll be true of any Jedi, not that we have a lot of them to choose from.”

Leia had a wonderful idea.“Maybe we don’t need a living Jedi.We can learn from a Holocron!”

“And you happen to have one… Where?”

“Okay, so first we need to find a Jedi Holocron.”

Mara sighed through her teeth, “Awesome.”

“And we need to keep working on Tatooine, so my father doesn’t get suspicious.”

“Super…And what do you have planned for Tatooine?”

Leia sobered, “Now that I’ve tasted it for myself, I think slavery should have no place in my father’s Empire.”

***

All paths led back to Imperial Center, it seemed, but this time Leia was not planning on staying for very long.It was not, she’d decided, a good place for her.She always got so antsy.But, for now, she had two very important tasks, one she’d given to Mara, and the other taken on herself.

“My Emperor,” she bowed at her father’s feet, in the citadel throne room.

“Rise, my Daughter.” Vader commanded easily. 

“I wish to make a formal request of the Emperor, such as might alter Empire law for the betterment of all sentients.”

Vader leaned back only slightly, betraying his surprise at her words. 

“By all means, the Emperor will hear this request and give it due consideration.” Vader said.

“Emperor Vader, in the far reaches of your Empire the plague of slavery infects everything.I ask you now, as your daughter and heir, will you not take action against slavery in the Outer Rim and offer the peace of the Empire that all sentient beings may live free and equal under your infallible rule of law?”

Vader inclined his head, “I will. But first, daughter, take this issue to the Imperial Senate.My decree will be all the more powerful if the senators of our thousand Imperial worlds think they have chosen it.”

Leia knelt again, “Thank you, My Emperor.”

***

“I must say, Leia, I was quite impressed by your speech at the Senate,” Obi-wan Kenobi pronounced in that pretentious but friendly tone he had. “You reminded me a great deal of your mother.”

Oh the scathing words Leia imagined saying! She had not yet forgiven Kenobi for his part in her mother’s death.She settled for a graceful nod of acknowledgment.Surely if Kenobi was reading her in the force he would know how she really felt. 

She narrowed her eyes at the Jedi.“You were on Tatooine for years.Didn’t the slavery bother you?”

“Yes.” Kenobi answered gravely. “But I had a mission, and it didn’t involve taking on the Hutts or drawing the Empire’s notice.”

***

When Leia got back to her quarters, Mara Jade looked exultant. 

“You got it?”

Mara grinned and withdrew a small bag from a pocket in her black body suit.She revealed a glowing blue cube.

Leia grinned.“Let’s get this off Imperial Center before the Jedi get suspicious.”

They were back on the Executor by sunset.She sent a short message to her father, claiming the need to return to Tatooine, and he granted it, as she knew he would.

As soon as they were in Hyperspace, Leia dumped the Jedi holocron on to the table in her quarters. Jade hovered nearby.

Leia picked up the lightly glowing hexagonal holocron. Something, like a cool shiver passed over her from the moment the device touched her skin. She had a good feeling about this.

A misty blue figure in a robe appeared in the air above the device.“Greetings young ones, I am Master Luminara.Welcome to the Jedi Temple!”

“Wow.” Mara said, coming to stand next to Leia, staring at the tiny figure.“Can she hear us?”

Luminara herself answered, “Of course, my child.May I ask your name, young one?”

Mara blushed, glanced to Leia, then spoke directly to Luminara.“I’m Mara Jade, Master Jedi.”

“And I’m Leia Skywalker, Master Luminara.” Leia chimed in.

Luminara looked between them with an impossibly warm gaze. “Well, my dear Padawans, let me tell you of the Force, which connects and enlivens all things.”


	7. Padawans

By the time the Executor had taken up geostationary orbit above Mos Espa, Leia and Mara were quite taken with their new Jedi Master. 

For the first time in months, Leia had hope.She and Jade gamely knelt in meditation, guided by Luminara’s soft instruction.The way Luminara spoke about the force, with such a gentle, devout confidence, Leia could almost sense it.Almost.

Tatooine lay below them, hot, dusty, and doubtless still a bastion of slavery.Out here in the Outer Rim an Imperial decree had little power.The true power was military force, and Leia didn’t doubt it would come to that.She had the Emperor’s mandate, but this was not the Emperor she’d known.It was her father, or rather it was Anakin Skywalker who had replaced her father.

Vader was gone.She was starting to accept that.She could not predict Anakin Skywalker, even when it seemed like he was giving her everything she wanted. For all his professed piety to the Jedi way, he’d given her use of the Executor, his flag ship.He’d given her absolute power on Tatooine, if she chose to wield it.She did _not_ understand what he wanted her to do.

Palpatine had always had plans within plans, but she had understood his intent— to dominate and subjugate the galaxy.One infallible rule of law. Vader had said he would never dismantle the Empire, but what was to stop him from changing his mind?He had changed so much already, and now Kenobi was hanging about whispering who knew what into her father’s audio transceivers. 

If only she had the force… but she didn’t.It was all well and good to meditate with Master Luminara.The Mirulaan’s words soothed her in ways she had not known she craved.But Jedi meditation was hard, and, for all she knew, this whole attempt was a fool’s errand.

She activated the holocron and Luminara appeared.“Padawan Leia Skywalker, how goes your training?”

Leia knew this was just a clever recording, that the real Master Luminara had probably died years ago— but when the hologram called her by name she couldn’t help but listen and respond.She’d missed working with a master.

“Master Luminara, I am struggling to sense the force.”It was hard to lie to Jedi, even a holographic one.

Luminara’s face held only kindness, “The force pervades everything, young one, whether you feel it or not. It permeates everything that lives, and every living thing moves within it creating boundless ripples of possibility.As a Jedi you will have a great responsibility in choosing carefully what you will do, for the Jedi wield the force itself, and so play a part in creating the future.”

“What am I supposed to choose?” Leia asked.

“Padawan, you must cultivate a good heart.If your first instinct is compassion for beings, then good actions will follow.If you are ruled by fear, hatred, or jealousy, you will act only for yourself, not for the greater good.”

Leia thought about that. 

“Do you have compassion, Leia Skywalker?” Luminara asked when Leia did not respond.

Leia sighed, considering switching off the holocron, but she hesitated, “I don’t know.”

Luminara looked at her steadily, “Compassion, young one, means to care about other sentients so much that you want to help them find solutions to their suffering.”

“But how?” Leia asked.

“A Jedi is called to serve in many ways.We are protectors of the peace, and sometimes warriors, we are healers, and teachers.You will find your path.”

“I’ll think about what you’ve said, Master Luminara.Thank you.”

Leia switched off the holocron feeling uneasy.She didn’t want to be a Jedi.She hated the Jedi.The Kriffing Jedi were the ones who had cut her off from the force. She smiled bitterly, she suspected this was, in fact, the very path they had planned for her, that the only way she could hope to get the force back was on their terms.Clever. 

***

Leia paced the pristine corridors of the Executor.She rang at Mara’s door but there was no reply.Her friend often went to the flight simulators.She would look there.

Sure enough the deck officer confirmed Mara Jade was back at flight training.Leia decided she would train as well.She had never learned to fly. That was something Luke and Vader shared without her.Well, no time like the present to get started

She got the intro program loaded and got to work, learning how to steer a TIE.It felt good even to just idle in space - it was almost like some of her force experiences…She steered her way in a loop around some unnamed ship, a Venator class.She had no objectives, or targets, she just needed to steer, and eventually, attempt a landing. 

All the stars were distant, as if the simulated ship had fallen out of hyperspace between systems.She steered close along side the Venator.It was a good simulation, the artillery of the ship was rendered in perfect detail, and there were flickers of movement beyond the transparasteel view-ports.

She imagined the ship full of officers and troopers.Servants of the Empire, intent on fulfilling the tasks required of them. A chain of command, each man and woman had their role and their responsibilities.That was how they solved problems together.

But Master Luminara hadn’t said ‘problems’, had she? She’d said ‘solutions to suffering’.The thing was, on a starship, if everyone carried out their assigned responsibilities, they didn’t have much to complain about.The officers and the troopers had food, lodging, clothing — all they had to do was their duty.

Unbidden Leia’s mind supplied a memory of a conversation she had overheard when she’d first travelled with her father on the Executor.That Darth Vader had executed a crewman over a simple mistake.At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it.Her father demanded perfection in every single enlisted man aboard the flagship of the Empire.Of course negligence had to be punished. 

Leia was getting a headache.She would land her TIE, if she could, and then see if Mara was done yet.

She angled in towards the hangar bay.She made it through the open force field, but skidded across the empty deck. The simulation ended.Good enough for a first try, she thought.

Mara had left.Leia shrugged and wandered back to the executive level, trying Mara again.

Her friend let her into her suite, “Sithspawn,” Mara acknowledged with fake solemnity.

Leia smiled, “You know that the historical Sithspawn were ferocious creatures right?Monsters?”

“Do you want to be called Jedispawn, then?”Mara asked smartly.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Can I have the holocron tonight?”Mara asked.She and Leia had been sharing it back and force.

“Hells yes.” Leia breathed.“Master Luminara has given me more than enough to think about.”

***

Leia dreamt. 

She was in darkness, but not silence.A woman was weeping.Her mother.Padme. But Leia had no body and no direction. She couldn’t do anything, even if she wanted to.She just had to listen to her mother weeping.She was powerless.


	8. Dustball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a few rough edges but I'm posting it anyway.

_Peace.Knowledge. Serenity.Harmony…_

Leia hated this, but she had to get her powers back.It didn’t help that she and Mara were at work on Tatooine, where there was so much sadness and injustice.But they were trying to fix it, and maybe that would get her some Jedi points with the force.Did it work that way?

She and Mara were supervising the development of a new Imperial office that would help slaves and former slaves.As enslavement of a sentient was now officially illegal, they had to start by helping current victims of slavery.Then they could move on to destroying the slavers themselves.

There was a cantina she and Mara liked to go to.They wore low ranking Imperial uniforms and caps, and didn’t get too much attention from the locals.She remembered what Lars had said, people here didn’t want to come across as Imperial collaborators.She’d really have to do something about that…

She saw the human and Wookie pair she’d noticed when they’d first come to the village. The Empire had relied heavily on Wookie slaves… she thought, they had been essential in building the Deathstar.She should reach out.

She strolled over to the corner table where the two sat.The human male looked up at her with an incredulous expression on his face.

“Am I under arrest?” He asked, smirking.

Leia forced herself not to smile, “Not yet.”

The Wookie howled something incomprehensible. The human translated, “My friend says you smell like you want something from us.”

Leia raised an eyebrow at that, “He’s right.”

The human looked askance at that, “Could we not talk here?It’s bad for business been seen talking with you lot.”

Leia scrawled a comm code on a napkin and dropped it on the table. “Fine.”She looked at the Wookie, “Thank you.”

***

Sure enough, that eveningher comm showed a text message with a location.She and Mara put on civilian clothes and met the man at what was apparently a deserted landing pad.

The human had a hand on the blaster at his belt, and was looking none too happy about this meeting.“So what did you want?” He asked baldly.

Leia crossed her arms, trying not to scowl at the man’s confrontational stance.“I was more interested in speaking with your companion, actually.”

“Yeah well, unless you speak Shyriiwook you’re gonna have to speak to both of us.”

“Fair enough.” Leia answered, she looked at the Wookie but spoke Basic, “I was surprised to see a Wookie here on Tatooine.”

The Wookie howled back.

The man translated, “He goes where I go.”

Leia forced a placid smile.“Ah, I see.And the two of your are based here?”

The man shrugged.

“The reason I ask,” Leia said delicately, “Was that I am tasked with the rescue and repatriation of those who have been enslaved on Tatooine.I thought your friend might have some interest in that, as a Wookie.”

“He’s no slave.” The human bit out.

“Exactly.” Leia agreed quickly. “Perhaps you are aware that the Empire recently outlawed the entire practice of slavery.We need knowledgable sentients to help organize the logistics of caring for the survivors.If you’re not interested…” She let her voice trail off.

The Wookie’s reply was immediate and emphatic. The human scowled but translated, “Chewbacca says he supports the project, but he is no Imperial collaborator.”

Leia shrugged, “I’m not here recruiting for the Empire.We’d be happy to pay you as independent consultants.

The Wookie grunted something.The human translated, “He wants in.”

“Great!” Leia smiled at the tall furry sentient, “I am so glad to hear that. And what about you…?”

“Han Solo.Where he goes, I go.”Solo didn’t look too happy about that.But clearly he was loyal to his friend.Leia could appreciate that.

“Good.”

“And you are?” Solo asked, annoyed but clearly resigned to working with her.

“Siddha Venn.” Leia answered automatically.If the man didn’t realize she was the Imperial Princess, all the better.He didn’t like Imperials, she could tell that much, and she guessed the higher up the food chain the more he’d disapprove. “And that’s Mara Jade.” She indicated her friend, who sidled over, looking between Solo and the Wookie with a neutral expression.

***

“He’s sort of handsome.” Mara told her once they had shuttled back to the Executor.

“There is no passion, only peace.” Leia quoted at Mara Jade, then rolled her eyes.“Go for it, Mara.He’s too grubby for me.”

Mara rolled her eyes, “I think he might be with the Wookie, actually.”

Leia grinned, “Nice.Well, whatever the case, I’m glad they are interested in working with us.”

Mara was tapping at a data pad.“Alright, so this Han Solo is a Carida drop out, ex-imperial officer trac.He has a record, and a few warrants.”

Leia shrugged, “That’s perfect. If he get’s nervous about helping us, we’ll use that.”

Mara sighed, giving Leia a half-amused, half-exasperated look. “Or… we could offer to wipe his sentence.That would be the Jedi thing to do.”

Leia thought about that, “I suppose. So does this mean your Jedi training is going well?”

Mara shook her head, “I like the meditation.But the philosophy is a bit…”

“Lame?Weak?Impractical?” Leia suggested.

“I was going to say, complicated, but yeah those things too.”

***

The coded message from Thrawn came in just moments before a live Holo from her father. 

_The snow planet is Hoth. We will engage presently._Thrawn had written, true to his promise to keep her informed.

Vader echoed Thrawn’s message, though he had orders for Leia that she wasn’t too happy to receive.

“You must return to Imperial Center, Daughter. “

“I’m perfectly safe here.” She answered back, though she knew it was not going to be any use.

“You will depart within the hour.”Vader cut the transmission.

She got it, he had another shot at the rebellion and light side sympathies or not he was going to take it. 

She sent a wordless call to Mara in the Force.Her friend came quickly.

“I have to go back to Coruscant.Father wants to enter the field of war so I have to go keep his seat warm.”

“Poor you.” Mara soothed, though a smile was pulling at the corner of her mouth.

“I suppose you could stay here.” Leia hadn’t thought Mara would want to, but her friend broke into a wide smile.

“Good.” Mara said.“I will stay then.”

“Hopefully Father crushes the rebellion quickly so I can come back.”

Mara sighed, “I hope so.The Empire has been at war long enough. Kriff, Leia, have you heard the stories these former slaves tell?”

Leia shifted uneasily, Mara was softening.It was no wonder, really, after everything they had seen on Sullust and Tatooine.But the Mara she had known wasbloodthirsty, even as a preteen.It was strange to see her like this, lit up with care for others.What was the galaxy coming to?


	9. Center

The mysterious snow planet had been identified as Hoth, in the Anoat Sector, and Darth Vader himself was going to lead the attack. Quasi Jedi or not, he still hated the Rebellion and Leia would not begrudge him this opportunity to destroy them.So the Emperor was going out in to the field, and Leia, as heir to the Empire had to keep his throne warm, just in case. 

Their interaction on Coruscant was brief and formal, thank the stars.Witnessed in the presence of his privy council, it was ratified that, in the event of the Emperor’s death or incapacitation she would hold absolute power, yeah.. fine...whatever.She didn’t need the force to know her father was exceptionally difficult to kill. 

In retrospect, she was glad she hadn’t killed him back when she’d had the chance and the will to do so.She had wanted to… but then where would she be?Empress?At sixteen? No thanks. Long live Emperor Vader, thank you very much.

So she was back in her old apartments, and her sweet, darling, force sensitive brother had asked if she want him to move back in to keep her company.She’d declined.He had his own apartments in the palace, of course, and that was close enough.

There was in fact, a presence even more annoying than Luke on Imperial Center, and far harder to avoid, that was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leia had toyed with the idea of having him quietly detained once her father’s ship entered hyperspace.She had hesitated. It was hard to trap a force sensitive and she the last thing she needed was for Kenobi to become antagonistic. 

She managed to avoid the Jedi Master for three whole days before he’d somehow mind-tricked his way into throne room, where Leia was holding court.It annoyed her immensely to see the old Jedi so close to her former master’s seat of power.The Jedi, however, seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Might I have a word, Your Royal Highness?” He asked with a bow.So pretentious. 

Leia shrugged and waved the the guards from the chamber.If Kenobi wanted to kill her, well, it would serve her father right for ever trusting his treacherous old master.“Well, you’ve made it this far.What can I do for you, Master Jedi?”

Kenobi smiled serenely, “I want to congratulate you again on taking an interest in the issue of slavery in the Empire.”

Leia nodded, impressed.“Oh so _now_ you are interested in Imperial justice?”

Kenobi’s mouth tightened, “As we discussed, I lived on Tatooine for quite some time…”

Leia blinked then smiled, “Yeah, when you kidnapped my brother and hid him away on a planet my father hates for fifteen years.I remember.”

“The point I wish to make,” Kenobi continued, unperturbed, “Is that I am supportive of the project of ending slavery in the Empire.”

“And then you’ll turn your attentions back to ending the Empire completely?” Leia asked acidly.

Kenobi actually laughed. “Leia, if you and your father can bring an end to slavery on every planet of the Empire, then it won’t be the Empire I’ve been opposed to all these years.”

Leia considered the man.“You’ve stayed close to my father since his ascension.You’re trying to influence him.” And succeeding, Leia thought darkly.

Kenobi inclined his head, “Anakin will do what he wishes to do, he always has.But if he is at least willing to hear my advice, I will give it gladly.”

Leia exhaled with a sigh, “He is.I’m not.Thank you for your congratulations, please leave me alone.”

***

It was an impressive gift, Leia had to admit that much.

_Two fine birds, for the Imperial Heir and her brother.With kindest personal regards, Mith’raw’nuruodo, Grand-Admiral._

Luke was elated.The TIE Defenders were sleek and powerful.Far more powerful than the original TIEs, with shields and hyperdrives**, **and a plethora of other attributes which Luke was happy to list off for her as he inspected his new toy.

Leia was not blind to Grand-Admiral Thrawn’s ongoing performance of good will.She supposed now that she was heir, it was to be expected that her father’s loyal men would seek to curry her favor.Though she did wonder if Thrawn was gearing up ask something of her, or if he really was still just feeling grateful that she had helped dispatch the Deathstar.

She returned her attention to the TIE Defender that had been given to her.She had been training on a simulator for the regular TIE during her time on the Executor, but now she’d need to start over with the Defender sims.Much as her brother protested that he absolutely _could_ fly the Defender, just watch him, she insisted that he, too, run sims, until she was confident they could fly together without getting themselves both killed.

So here they were, busy in their respective simulators. Connected by comms.Luke was having a lot more fun than Leia was.

“Let’s go see the Senate up close.” Luke said, flying far faster than Leia dared.They were doing the Coruscant fly over sim, which Leia found just nerve wracking.She’d much prefer a battle in the vacuum of space.Dipping and wheeling around thousand story buildings was not her idea of a good time. 

Luke’s Defender was just a dot now, dwarfed against the dome of the Imperial Senate.Leia powered along at a less suicidal speed. 

Then Luke ducked into the pillared veranda of the Senate building, weaving in and out of view, infuriatingly.

“For Kriff sakes, you are not building my confidence, Luke.”

“I’m not?” Luke asked across the comms, sounding hurt.

Leia sighed, “You are a good flyer, but what guarantee do I have that you won’t go pulling this kind of stunt when we take our birds out for real?”

“Sister, when we go out for real, I’ll be right by your side.”

Leia suspected this was a subtle jibe at her mediocre flying skills, but whatever, “You’d better be.Father would be just livid if we both died.”

“All over again.”Luke put in.

“Yeah.” Leia agreed.“Then he and Kenobi would have to fight, then father would go to the dark side, _all over again_, but there would be no saintly Luke Skywalker to gently guide him back to the light.” 

Luke’s Defender disappeared from the sim.He had disconnected.Leia followed suit, curious.She popped open the simulator cockpit and clambered out to see her brother glaring at her with arms crossed.

“Is that what you think?” He asked sharply, “That it was all me?”

Leia shrugged, annoyed but compelled to see where this conversation would go.

“Well, it sure the hells wasn’t me that seduced him back to the light.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, “Haven’t you even discussed it with him?It’s been nearly a year!”

Leia shrugged, “What did he say to you?”

Luke rolled his eyes, “So you haven’t even asked him why he turned back?”

Leia crossed her arms and stared at her brother, “No. Because I know it was you, your brightness in the force, hells, apparently you even look like he did when he was your age.Though you are a bit short.”

Luke leapt at the opportunity to derail the conversation, “Father _is _very tall, but part of that is prosthetics right?”

Leia fingered the lightsaber at her belt, “Yeah, if you want to get taller we could set you up with a similar set.Want me to slice you up right now or should we go to Kenobi since he did the original hatchet job on Father?”

“I’m good.” Luke replied with a tight smile. “You really saw all that in a vision?”

Leia nodded, “It was just brutal. If you’d seen it you’d never want to talk to Kenobi again.”

“Yet Father seems to have forgiven him.” Luke commented blandly.

“Yeah well,” Leia said, running out of steam, “Maybe we all have a soft spot for old our masters.”

“You’re saying you forgive Palpatine for what he did?” Luke asked, nonplussed.

Leia sighed, “I’m not sorry I killed him. But… He was my master, Luke.My mentor.”

“You miss him.” Luke said softly.

Leia considered the statement, “No, I miss the force.”


	10. Caring

“Padawan Leia Skywalker, tell me, how does your meditation progress?”The hologram of Master Luminara asked.

“I’m trying, Master, but I’m not feeling it.” Leia replied.

Luminara’s sympathetic smile was so very soft.“You will my dear.You wouldn’t be here at the Jedi Temple if you didn’t have midichlorians in your blood.Trust in that.”

“Midichlorians?” Leia asked, curious.

The Jedi Master nodded, “All force-sensitives can be identified by their blood, even if their access to their powers lies dormant.”

“Why do a Jedi’s powers stay dormant?How do I wake up?” Leia whispered, feeling irritated.

“Tell me the Jedi code, young one.”

“There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.”Leia rattled off by rote.

“You know the words, Leia Skywalker, but are you living the code?”

Leia had to admit that she was not. 

“Do you then understand what you must do?”

Leia understood, but she didn’t like it.She put the holocron away and paced the length of her apartments, anxiety building. She couldn’t just let go of her dark side training.It was all she had left of her master, it was all she knew. Just thinking of trying to forget it all made her angry.

And her anger was blocking her from the light side of the force. 

Kriff.

Leia knelt in meditation, slowing her breathing and reaching out, wishing that the force would reach back.

Hours passed, the sun set and her chambers fell into darkness.

Peace.Knowledge. Serenity.Harmony.

She awoke sprawled on the carpet of her sitting room.So much for meditation. 

It was very early in the morning.Her guards nonetheless saluted and fell into step behind her as she left her apartments.She let them accompany her as far as the tunnels below the palace then commanded them to wait.From there she went on alone, down the rough hewn steps, into the mountain. 

It was cold, and it made her heart ache to walk down these steps.Her saber shook in her hand. By the time she reached the cave she was crying openly.Palpatine’s remains were gone, Vader had collected them, she assumed.But she remembered how it had felt, to stab her blade into her Master. 

Palpatine had been pleased with her, even as she murdered him.She remembered that look in his amber eyes.Triumph.She’d done what every true Sith apprentice longed to do, she’d killed her master.But she’d failed to step into his role.Her master’s legacy had died with her failure.Now there were only Jedi in this lonely galaxy. 

Leia woke. 

She was still seated in meditation in her sitting room.Early morning light filtering in through the windows.Had she gone to the cave or had that been a dream?

She got to her feet, feeling unaccountably rested.

She had time to run a sim before she had to go preside at court.She programed a low atmosphere battle.Her squad of six Defenders soared down through the atmosphere, the wind screaming against their wings.The simulated Wing Commander’s voice ordered her to the north-west quadrant and she obeyed.

Farm land below.She flew low, watching livestock shift in their herds as her Defender screamed past them.There were farmers too, Rebels, she supposed.They fired at her with blaster rifles, but she had her shields up and was moving far too quickly to take any damage.She came around, readying a missile.When it was primed, she let if fly.The explosion below was tremendous, ripping up the farm, the livestock and the erstwhile Rebels.

But she had missed one.A girl, perhaps her own age or a bit older was running flat out.Leia could see her dark hair trailing out behind her like a kite. 

Leia had another missile.It was primed.

She hesitated.

Kriff.

Leia shut down the simulation, wrenching the hatch open and gasping for breath. 

Kriff, kriff, kriff.

***

Leia sat on the Imperial throne, barely cognizant as courtiers came and went. She was not her father, and would not adjudicate actual court matters in his absence.But for some reason it mattered that she was here, in his place.The heir.

What really mattered was that she had hesitated to kill a simulation.She had felt… something, and it terrified her. It was easy to sit, placid, occasionally making light conversation with the minor dignitaries and officers who bowed in her presence.But a dawning horror was creeping into her heart and she was glad when the session ended and she could retire to her rooms.

She thought of the brown haired girl, running through burning fields, fleeing for her life.It was just a simulation.Just a simulation programed by some tech to give trainee fighter pilots a target to shoot at, so that when they ran actually strafing runs, they would not hesitate to fire.

She was weak. 

She meditated again that evening.She let her frustration and fear seep out of her and just sat.When her fears and anxieties tried to creep in the recited the Jedi code. 

No emotion, just peace. 

How she wanted that to be true. 

She thought of her mother, who she’d only ever seen in force visions. Padme.Her heart shaped face contorted in pain as she gave birth.Her heart broken because her beloved Anakin had turned into something monstrous. Kenobi had been there.Yoda and Bail Organa lingered behind him.They’d all been so helpless, so heartbroken.And yet, in the wake of her mother’s passing all of them had continued to fight for what they believed in.Democracy and the Jedi way.They were so sure of themselves, so righteous. All Leia knew is that her mother had died that day.And whoever it was that Anakin Skywalker had been, that man had disappeared into the vortex of Darth Vader.

All Leia knew is that in that moment she felt sympathy, for all of them.For the tragedy that unfolded at the birth of the Empire.


	11. Blackbird

Darth Vader was back on Imperial Center.As had long been their custom, Leia sat with him in his hyperbaric chamber.Luke was there, too.Vader was glancing between his two children looking uncharacteristically content.

His eyes were pure blue, like the sky on Tatooine had been.Just like her brother’s eyes.She wondered if, now that he was Emperor, he would make upgrades to his prosthetics.He’d always worn them with so much pain, had that been a decree of Palpatine’s, or her father’s own stubbornness?She didn’t dare ask.

“Did you capture any X-Wings?” Luke asked curiously.

Vader smiled. “I may have.But those Rebel crafts were in terrible repair. You wouldn’t want one of those rust buckets, would you?”

Luke shrugged, “It is what I always imagined flying back when I was on Tatooine.Sorry.I guess I sort of supported the Rebellion.”

Vader wheezed out a laugh.“I hope I have your support now, Son.”

Luke flushed and glanced away.

“Did you take prisoners?” Leia asked softly. 

Vader gave her a knowing look, “Not Bridger, if you’re still pining after him.”

Leia rolled her eyes.It wasn’t like that. “Mothma?”

“She escaped.But the Rebel fleet was heavily damaged.It will take them months to recover, if not years.”

Leia thought that was unduly hopeful, but said nothing. She was privately glad that Ezra Bridger had not been recaptured. 

Vader looked at her, considering, but turned his attention to Luke. “You have acquired one of Grand-Admiral Thrawn’s TIE Defenders.Have you flown it yet?”

Luke shook his blond head, “Leia wouldn’t let me.But I’ve run tons of sims.”

“You sister is right to prioritize your safety, Luke.” Vader offered lightly.

“You are welcome to borrow Blackbird if you want to go flying with Luke, Father.”

Vader glanced at her, amused. “You named your Defender?”

Leia shrugged. “Capital ships have names.I figured my Defender should too.”

***

“You are changing, my Daughter.” Vader observed later, when they were alone.

Leia tensed at that, she knew it was true, but she hadn’t known it was obvious.

“Do not fear, Leia, I will love you no matter what path you take,” Vader rumbled.

Leia winced, her father had _never_ said _those_ words to her.Ever.She felt a moment’s vertigo, and closed her eyes, waiting for it to pass.“You love me?”She whispered.

“Of course.” Vader’s voice sounded from behind his mask.“I— should have told you long ago.When you first came into my life.”

Leia bit her lip, not sure what to do with this declaration. 

“And now you have become a young woman who flinches at the very word. I regret that.”

“Please stop.” Leia hissed.“I can’t listen to this.”

Vader humored her and they sat in silence for a long time.

Finally, Leia found her voice and asked, “What was it about Luke that made you turn back to the light side?”

Vader sighed, “You are mistaken if you believe it was only Luke.You changed me, too.I sensed you falling away from me, deeper into Palpatine’s shadow.It terrified me.”

“But you did nothing.” Leia bit out. “You left me with him.”

Vader bowed his head. “And I almost lost you.But you prevailed, Leia.You continue to prevail.”

Hot tears started dripping her cheeks, much to her chagrin.“Did you know he was trying to turn me against you?To keep secrets from you?”

“Of course I knew.” Vader replied sharply.“He was my master too, Leia.It was obvious what he was doing.”

“But you just let it happen?”

Vader was silent for a long moment. “I wanted you to have the choice— darkness or light.As a child, the Jedi code was forced upon me, it was suffocating, I hated it because it felt just like slavery had felt.For me to break free of that was a liberation.”

“When you fell.” 

“Yes.” Vader replied easily

“But now you welcome it?” Leia asked, she just couldn't understand him.

Vader was probably staring at her from behind his mask,did he even remember she couldn't sense him? “I was long told it was my destiny to destroy the Sith.But it was you and your brother who completed the task.”

“But I fell.” Leia whispered.

“You used the dark side as your own, Leia, but you were never a Sith.”

Leia chuckled bleakly, “That’s what Yoda said too.”

“Did he?” Vader asked sharply.

“And then he took away the force, to punish me.”

“I assure you, Daughter, I find his method as distasteful as you do. But I believe you will regain your force-sensitivity.I believe it has already begun.”

Leia looked at her father, “You raised me to hate the Jedi.I can’t just move past that.”

Vader actual chuckled, though his vocoder murdered the sound.“You do not have to become a Jedi, Leia.It is enough that you are a Skywalker.”

***

Leia wanted to run.She settled for flight.She took her Defender in an easy arc around the Imperial Palace.She throttled up into the upper atmosphere, steering between the various installations and satellites that dusted Coruscant’s orbit. Beyond them Executor hung massive and unassailable. 

She pulled out of the capital planet’s gravity completely, relishing the feel of floating in space, though her flight harness kept her steady.She circled the Executor in a wide arc, noting the capitol ship passively scanning her fighter, then recognizing her i.d. beacon and ignoring her.She looped around the massive ship then angled down towards Imperial Center.The center of the universe.

She re-entered the atmosphere and sped along the upper atmosphere military lanes, so many billions of sentients, going to and fro below her.Each trying to eke out some kind of a life. 

It came in a wave. It pierced her soul. The force. 

Then it was gone and she was blind again.She angled down towards the Imperial Palace, landing on the roof of the West tower, as Mara Jade had once done.She powered down the Blackbird and sat in the remains of the garden that had once grown there.

It was coming back.She cried until she had no more tears.Then she withdrew the holocron from the pocket of her flight suit.

“Master Luminara.” She breathed when the holographic Jedi Master appeared.

“Padawan Leia, what has happened?”

“I felt the force.” Leia blurted out.

Luminara nodded, “Of course you did, young one, it is your birthright.”

“I wasn’t sure I ever would.” Leia admitted, the tears threatening to rise again.

“Now Young One, you must continue to train.You have much to learn, Padawan.”

Leia smiled through her tears, “Yes, Master, please keep teaching me.”


	12. Trying

Obi-Wan Kenobi was gone.He had left Imperial Center with no word, no explanation, he was just gone.

Luke was beyond devastated.He was absolutely forlorn and had refused to speak to Vader.But Leia could sense him, vaguely, in his quarters, a bundle of sadness, anger, and confusion.

Vader seemed something on the resigned side of furious.“Kenobi will have had his reasons, but whether they justify what Luke is feeling now, I cannot say.”

“He should have said something.He’s been teaching Luke to use the force, he’s practically Luke’s Jedi master for kriff’s sake.” Leia spat.

Vader let out a static laced sigh.“In the past I would have taken this for a tremendous betrayal.Now, I hesitate.”

Leia reached out to her father in the force, bringing his masked gaze upon her. 

“You are recovering your powers, my daughter.”

Leia nodded.“Some.”

“Will you speak with Luke?” Vader asked.

She could sense her father hated this weakness about himself, that Luke’s feelings were not something he could fix with brute force.Leia wasn’t convinced she could do any better.

She shrugged, “Father, I will try.But I’m no Jedi.”

That amused Vader, she sensed.“You are his sister.No one in the galaxy could be more like him.”

Leia left her father’s presence, not sure if she was like Luke at all.She had… she had to admit, she’d left Luke to his own devices these last few months.He’d had Kenobi, and their father, and Leia had been focused on her own problems.

Her brother’s suite was blue and gold, the colors of Tatooine but without the heat and the dust.The royal guards had let her pass without comment.It was not their purview to keep Luke in or keep his family out.They were ceremonial, mostly, unless the Imperial Palace were to come under attack.

Luke was curled up in a sky blue armchair, letting the morning sun fall in on him through the east-facing windows.

Leia draggedover an ottoman to perch near him.She supposed she should have tried to move it with the force, but it was easy enough to move by hand, and this meeting wasn’t about her, and getting her force powers back.It was about Luke.

Her brother looked over at her with a face stained by tears.

“Father is worried about you, and so am I.” She told him point blank.

Luke shook his head and looked away, “I’m not ready to talk about this.”

Leia resisted the urge to nudge him in the force, “It is okay to be sad about Kenobi leaving.I know you’ve been close with him.”

Luke nodded, “Just let me be sad then, Leia.This isn’t something you can fix.”

Leia blinked at that, she had hoped there was something she could say, or do.

“It hasn’t really been that long, has it?” She asked, trying to draw the boy out in conversation.”

“Since what?”

“All of it.Me finding you.Me um… killing Palpatine.And um..”

“Turning evil?” Luke supplied.

“Yeah.” Leia gave an exaggerated shrug, “And my period of madness where I helped the Rebellion destroy the Deathstar and then they thanked me by blinding me to the force.”

Luke looked at her carefully, “It’s coming back to you now though.”

“Yeah.Six months later.Kriffing Jedi.”

Luke let out a stifled laugh, “I like you better this way, um.. not evil.”

Leia sighed, “I am trying.But how have you been, Luke?I don’t mean today, but since you got here?”

Luke ran a sleeve over his mostly dry cheeks, “I don’t know.At first I was just so happy to have a real family, even if you were both Sith and serving Palpatine.”

Leia snorted, “You are lucky you never really got to know him.”

Luke answered seriously, “Yeah, um, thanks for that.And, well, it was hard when you were weird after all that.I was kind of… Kriff, Leia, I am just going to say it.I agree with what the Jedi did to you.”

Leia felt like she’d been slapped and it took all her will to let it pass without getting angry.

_Peace…. Harmony…_

“Oh yeah?” She asked as lightly as she could, though she knew there was still some heat behind it.

Luke was leaning in, looking at her with those ice blue eyes.“You were as scary as Palpatine.”

Leia tried to absorb that.She had been nowhere near as powerful as her Master.“You’ve never touched it, have you?Darkness?”

“No.” Luke replied shortly.

Leia remembered the power, the thrill of it, she had felt limitless.Not like she felt now…

“You can’t go back to that, Leia.I’m begging you.” Luke blurted.

She frowned. “I’m not here to talk about me I’m trying to talk to you about you.”

Luke sighed, a sliver of irritation conveyed across the force, “Do you think I have some sort of life of my own here?Everything is about being Darth Vader’s son and _your_ brother.”

“Well, what were you studying with Kenobi?” Leia asked.

Luke looked sad, “Meditation, the Jedi way… He told me stories about what he and father did in the Clone Wars.There were thousands of Jedi, all over the galaxy.”

“And millions of people died in the Clone Wars.Billions.” Leia commented. “We live in comparatively peaceful times.”

Luke paled at that, hesitated, then spoke his mind, “You threatened to blow up Chandrilla, Leia.The Deathstar annihilated that Yavin moon the Rebels were set up on…”

Leia remembered.“Yeah, but that was life with Palpatine.I was just his agent. And you were worth it Luke.”

Her brother was completely serious now.“No.No one person is worth an entire planet.”

“Well, I got rid of the Deathstar in the end, didn’t I?” Leia asked, trying to figure out what her brother wanted her to say.

“You did that because you were about to try to overthrow Father.” Luke pointed out, looking completely annoyed now. 

Leia reached into the force, her brother was trying to explain something and she just wasn’t understanding.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t.” Leia hissed.She hadn’t wanted this conversation to be about her, about the mistakes she had made.

“Leia, will you just let me be sad because my master has left?I don’t know what comes next, okay?I— I need to think.”

Leia got to her feet, anger starting to overtake confusion. “I wanted to make you feel better.”

“Thank you.” Luke said solidly.“I will be fine.”

For some reason that was an extremely annoying thing to hear.Luke was pushing her away.She was trying to be good, trying to help, but he’d rather do it on his own.

Leia turned her back on her brother and left his rooms with no further words exchanged between them.


	13. Kallus

Leia was annoyed.Was annoyance of the dark side?She didn’t care, she was going with it.If Luke didn’t want her help, that was fine. They were sixteen now and whether he liked being Imperial Prince or not, that was his life.

“Your brother—“ Vader had tried to enquire but she wasn’t having any of it.

“He’s in a sulk.He wants to feel sad about Kenobi leaving and he doesn’t want me butting in.” Leia huffed.

“I see.” Vader’s sense in the force was amused.“Well then, Daughter, I have another task for you.This one will play better to your strengths, I believe.”

Leia perked up, “What is it?”

“You will survey the high level prisoners I took at Hoth.Decide which may have useful intelligence and which do not.”

Leia blinked, a sense of vertigo washed over her.“Why me?” 

“Because you are force sensitive, Young One, you can manage easily what the ISB could only do with torture.”

“So you aren’t asking me to torture them?”Leia clarified, unsure if they still did that now that Vader wasn’t Sith. 

“Someday, Daughter, you will lead this Empire.A ruler must make decisions he or she finds unpalatable.For now I merely wish you to tell me if the prisoners can be useful.”

Leia was unnerved.“Why are you asking me to do this now?”

“Your powers have returned to you, Leia, I see no reason for you to remain idle any longer.”

Leia bowed her head, “Fine.”

***

Leia dressed in her black Sith robes. Even if she wasn’t using the dark side, these robes still said power.She hooked her lightsaber on an obsidian chain at her waist and headed down into the depths of the Imperial Palace to see what her father had brought home.

The ISB officers were all too happy to step aside.They handed her a stack of data pads and assured her that the cells were not being surveilled.She wondered what exactly they thought she was going to do.

She caught her breath when she saw the name on the first data pad.

Alexsandr Kallus. 

She knew him.Not well, but she remembered he’d been there with the Specters.He was an Imperial traitor, not just some Outer Rim rebel, but a native bred Coruscanti.

Leia exhaled and entered the room. Kallus was seated at a simple table, dressed inprison garb and looking tired.

His eyes widened when he laid eyes on her.“You?”He asked, his voice that perfect rigid diction that Imperial officers treasured.

Leia shrugged, “Why not me?”

“You gave the Alliance the way to bring down the Deathstar.”

Leia rolled her eyes, “Temporary insanity.”

“It seemed quite sane to me, you were going to oppose Darth Vader, and for five minutes the Alliance had a real chance.” Kallus replied earnestly.

“I was never with the Alliance.” Leia seethed. “What do you know about it anyway?”

“I thought you had finally seen sense.”

“Well, you’d be wrong.” Leia blurted, then winced. She was suddenly glad the interrogation room was not surveilled.

Kallus was laughing at her. “I’d ask how the child of Bail Organa could stray so far, but my own parents are right here on Coruscant eagerly anticipating my execution.”

Leia blinked, “They don’t approve of you?”

Kallus shrugged, “They used to.Emphatically, for a long time.Then I defected to the Alliance and they forswore me.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

Kallus gave her a strange half-smile, “After all of Ezra Bridger’s stories, I feel like I know you.”

Leia felt like she had been punched.But of course they knew each other.She met Kallus pale eyes, acknowledging that he had her attention completely.

“How is he?” She asked despite herself.

“Still alive.” Kallus replied, “As far as I am aware.”

Leia let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “And the rest of them?”

Kallus smiled, he was proud of his friends. “Still fighting.”

Leia nodded, feeling undone, she had to regain control of this interrogation.“Listen, Kallus, I’m not here to chat.”

“No?” Kallus said drolly.

“No.” Leia said calming, “Actually I’m done.I know what to do with you.”She stood, backing away from the table.She had felt, for a few minutes as if she’d been talking with Mara, or Ezra.But this man was her enemy, and as he himself had acknowledged almost certainly facing execution as a traitor.

She had a task to perform.There was no doubt in her mind that Kallus could provide useful information on the rebellion. 

Alone in the corridor Leia leaned into the plasteel wall, wishing she could bash her head against it.She was weak, terribly weak.The information Kallus could provide would be the very information the Empire could use to hunt down the Specters.And even though they were enemies… she knew them.She’d had drinks with Sabine Wren for kriff’s sake. 

She looked at the next datapad. Dodonna.He’d been the highest value capture to be taken at Hoth.Like Kallus he was an Imperial turned traitor.It had been just a few years but he’d brought all the knowledge of an Imperial General to the Rebellion and they had profited from it immensely.

There was really no question.He would have useful personal and tactical information on the Rebellion. 

She was hesitating.But she could do this, she would talk to him.

He was a thin old man with a hard face and a weary gaze.Like Kallus, though, his eyes widened and sparks of recognition echoed through the force.Here we go again, Leia thought.

“Leia Organa.” Dodonna breathed.“I am honored.”

“That hasn’t been my name for a long time, prisoner.” Leia replied trying to maintain some dignity.

That didn’t last long.

“Your father was a good friend of mine.” The rebel General persisted.

“Darth Vader is my father.” Leia bit out.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your mother, Breha?”

Leia slammed the datapad down on the table so hard the screen cracked. Kriff this.

She stormed from the room and virtually threw the datapads at the ISB agents who waited at the end of the corridor.

Her mother.Her adoptive mother.Leia felt nauseated.She wanted to cry.Or kill something.

_Daughter_.Vader’s query came through the force directly into the center of her head.

But she didn’t want to talk to Vader about _this_.

_I’m fine._She sent back. She winced, because this was just how Luke had rebuffed her yesterday.

Kriff.She needed to get out of here.But there was no where to go.She was Imperial Princess.This was her home.

And someday she’d have to rule it all.

Leia had only barely made it back to her apartments when the nausea became too great and she was sick in her fresher.

She heard the chime of her door, then the unmistakable sound of someone entering.Not just anyone.Darth Vader.His heavy gait and mechanical breathing were unmistakable.

Leia wiped her mouth and got to her feet.

“It didn’t go well,” she said dryly as her father looked her up and down.

“I sense that.” Vader said seriously.“Do you need a medic?”

Leia shook her head.“You didn’t have to come over here.”

“You are my child.You were in pain.Of course I had to come.”


	14. Ahsoka

Leia couldn’t have been more surprised to receive an encrypted messagefrom an unknown code on her comm link. 

_Can we talk? -Ahsoka_

Leia couldn’t not imagine why Ahsoka Tano had dared come to Imperial Center but she welcomed the distraction.

_North Pole Winter Retreat 1800. _She texted back.

Leia hooked her lightsaber to the belt of her one-piece and left her apartments with a sharp admonition for her guards to stay put.They didn’t dare disobey her.

She took the turbolift up to the landing at the top of the West tower.Her Defender, Blackbird, waited for her and she keyed it up.

Leia descended at the Winter Retreat.It was deserted by the guards and maintenance staff, Leia having commed ahead alerting them that she would be present, as would a guest, and she expected absolutely no interference.By the time she landed, the retreat was lit and welcoming in the dusk light.She sensed the Jedi approaching cautiously, and she settled in to wait.

Soon Ashoka Tano was landing a speeder on the solarium patio and gingerly stepping into the retreat where Leia waited.

She’d arranged a set of chairs and a table, abutting the fire which the staff had set before making themselves scarce.There she sat, composed. She was pleased when Tano took the other chair.Invitation to civilized conversation received and accepted.She smiled. “Hello, Ahsoka Tano.”

Tano bowed her head, “Thank you, Leia, for receiving me.I wasn’t sure you would.”

Leia shrugged, “If you were here to assassinate me I doubt you would have come alone.”

Tano snorted, “Good old Skywalker overconfidence, how I’ve missed it.”

“But am I wrong?” Leia remarked as she poured some wine into the goblet in front of Tano and then into her own.

Tano rolled her eyes, “I do, in fact, come in peace.”

“But why exactly are you here?” Leia pressed.She couldn’t help feel unnerved that she was talking to yet another Rebel.She was still reeling from her botched interrogations of Kallus and Dodonna.

The Togruta smiled vaguely, “Crosscurrents in the force. I— need to talk to Anakin.”

Leia blinked. “I don’t know if that will go well.Are you Kenobi’s replacement to teach Luke?”

Ahsoka answered quickly, “No.I don’t have anything to do with that.”

“Do you know why he ran off?” Leia pressed.

Ahsoka looked pained, “I’m sorry, Leia, can you summon your father?Would you tell him I just want to talk?”

Leia nodded, “No fighting?”

Ahsoka shook her head, smiling sadly.

Leia reached out in the force.She hadn’t tried to contact her father via their force bond since she’d cut it off, but she wasn’t disappointed to discover that from her Father’s side he’d never cut _her_ off.

_Father_.

_Leia!_ Vader’s response was immediate.

_Ahsoka Tano is here.She says she comes in peace and would like to talk, as long as it isn’t going to turn into a fight._

_Just tell me where._Vader replied.

Leia looked at the Togruta.“Well, he’s coming.”

Ahsoka looked incredibly nervous but resolute.“Thanks.”

Vader’s modified I-TIE landed next to Ahsoka’s speeder.He’d come alone and he his shields were low, as if to say he had nothing to hide.

Leia used the force to drag a third chair towards where they sat.

Ahsoka was on her feet, tense and ready, though Vader had not drawn his saber.

“I will not attack you, Ahsoka Tano.” Vader said level. Then he took his chair and waited for her to do the same.

“I wanted to see if it was really you.” Ahsoka’s voice sounded small. 

“Thank you for your trust.I… Don’t deserve it.”

Ahsoka’s big blue eyes looked misty.“Anakin, I am so sorry.”

Leia was surprised at that.Ahsoka was apologizing to Vader?

Ahsoka turned to Leia, “When I left the Jedi Order I also left him.I should have stayed.I— didn’t think about how he needed me.”

Vader shook his head, “You would have died along with the rest of the Jedi, had you stayed.You were wise to distance yourself.”

Leia felt strange, hearing her father talk this way about the past.Stranger still was his sense in the force, smolderingly angry, but entirely at himself.

“But maybe if I had stayed you wouldn’t have…”

“Become who I am?” Vader asked dryly.“I was supposed to be the Master, Snips, it was never your job to take care of me.It was my job to take care of you.”

A fat tear rolled down Ahsoka’s patterned cheeks.“For years I didn’t know that Darth Vader was you.I thought my master was dead.I mourned you a thousand time in my head, Anakin.”

Vader let out a static laced sigh, “He did die, Snips.I killed him.I am… sorry.”

Ahsoka wiped her face with her sleeve, “And now?Are you him?Or are you Vader?”

“Both and neither, I think.Does that worry you?”

“Tremendously.” Ahsoka exhaled. “But I’m glad we can sit here like this and just talk… without the fighting.”

“You gave me Leia back, Ahsoka.” Vader enunciated, “She is half the reason I am here today.Luke is the other half.”

Ahsoka smiled sadly at that.“I always thought you’d make a good dad, Skyguy.”

Vader coughed, which was his version of a laugh.“I never thought I’d hear you call me that again, Snips.”

Eventually Leia flew back to the Imperial Palace, leaving her father to reconnect with his former padawan.She admired how Vader was willing to acknowledge that he was and wasn’t the same man he had once been.

Leia herself had no such certainty about herself. She was still stinging from Dodonna’s mention of Breha Organa. It had been over three years.The queen of Alderaan had spoken with her via holo after the truth had come out about Vader being her father, but after that Leia had avoided contact.

Such things had been simple during Palpatine’s reign.He would have tolerated no reminders of her past life, and at the time it just hadn’t seemed that important.She had her biological father, and she had been learning to use the force.

She’d been darker then, she had to admit.She hadn’t realized it at the time, but under Vader and Palpatine’s tutelage she had naturally and enthusiastically embraced the dark side’s power without ever questioning it.

Now, though, with Master Luminara’s teachings running through her head she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Guilt. Doubt. Regret. 

She didn’t want to feel this way. 


	15. Ahsoka II

Leia had hoped that Ahsoka Tano would be able to work with Luke, to replace Kenobi as his mentor in the light side of the force.But it soon became clear that whatever Luke needed to hear, it was _not_ whatever Ahsoka Tano had to say.

The Togruta had agreed to visit Leia before leaving Imperial Center so here she was waiting on the West tower roof.When she’d first arrived at the palace there’d been a garden here. Now it was a private landing pad mostly used by Mara and herself. 

Ahsoka arrived in the same speeder as yesterday, swinging out with a smile.“That’s some security code you gave me.”

Leia smiled, “Don’t go handing it out to everyone.”

Ahsoka laughed and they descended to Leia’s residence.

“Were you ever in here, back when this was the Jedi temple?”

Ahsoka looked around, blinking.“This was called the Reassignment Tower… They brought me here when I was accused of murder.My trial was in the Chamber of Judgement.”

Leia winced, “Forgive me, I had no idea.We could have met somewhere else.”

Ahsoka shook her head, “I’ve been through a lot of hard things, Leia.I can’t run away from them forever.”

Leia couldn’t help be impressed by that. “I wish you were going to stay.”

Ahsoka looked at her sadly, “That was never my plan.But I wanted to see you all together, as a family… And I wanted to ask, Leia, how did you get your powers back?”

Leia felt just a sliver of doubt, should she tell the Jedi what she had done? But she wanted to trust Ahsoka… wished she could trust someone like this.She had to risk it.

“Ezra told me how he had done it, by doing the Padawan exercises.But we didn’t think any Jedi would actually teach us.So we used a holocron.”

“Ah.” Ahsoka smiled. “Looking back, did we do the right thing?”

Leia’s heart sank.She couldn’t look at it that way.It had been a terrible thing, she still bore the scars of it.“You took away my powers.It wasn’t right.”

Ahsoka squared her jaw, “What I mean is— We didn’t kill you.You must realize all of us have killed Sith before.We found another way.”

Leia looked away, sighing, feeling vaguely nauseated.“I… guess it was foolish to think that you might have just let me go.”She _had_ been wildly over confident, she could see that now.She had thought she could maneuver the Rebels and just walk away. 

“You were dangerous, Leia.” Ahsoka insisted.

Leia clenched her jaw, this was too much, it stung too much.“Do _you_ think it was the right thing, Ahsoka Tano?”She looked back at the Torgruta.

Ahsoka hesitated, “I’ve tried to imagine other things we could have done.I— I guess I’d fell into the pattern of following where Yoda and Obi-wan led.”

Leia sighed, “I miss it.Everything was so clear when I was dark.

Ahsoka’s eyes narrowed concerned, “But you haven’t gone back to it.I don’t sense any darkness in you.”

Leia smiled bitterly, “No, I haven’t gone back to it… But… there’s a chamber below the palace, a nexus of the dark side.”

Ahsoka surprised her by nodding, “We’d suspected.Near end of the Clone Wars we were going to dig down and see what it was.But so many plans fell apart that year…”A look of great sadness crossed her features.

“It calls to me.” Leia said simply.

Ahsoka looked terrible sad, “I’m begging you Leia, be strong.I know it isn’t easy.”

“It’s where I killed Palpatine.”Leia said, remembering that day with vivid clarity.“I’d gone into the cave, and fallen deep into a vision.Then he was there, pulling me out of it.He told me that my father had betrayed him. It was a lie.But— I was so deep in the force - I wanted to punish him for a much older deception.Did you know he sacrificed my mother, Padme, to restore my father after Mustafaar?”

Ahsoka gasped, her face crumpling, “I didn’t know.”

Leia nodded grimly, “Some old Sith spell.My mother’s life force was stolen from her and my father was dragged back from the precipice of death._That_ is why I killed Palpatine.”

Ahsoka looked heartbroken.“Thank you for telling me.We—I mean the Jedi were never clear on what had happened.There were disturbances in the Force.Master Yoda said Palpatine was dead and a new Sith was rising. Then a few days later you showed up on Dagobah, reeking of the dark side.”

Leia could imagine it from the Jedi’s perspective, she _was_ lucky they hadn’t killed her.“The thing about the dark side is the confidence it brings, it’s irresistible.I— barely got off Imperial Center without killing my father.I desperately wanted to end him and I hated that desire at the same time.But Mara got me away.I thought I had to hurt Vader, hurt his Empire… So I found the Rebellion and told you how to do it.”

Ahsoka considered this, “And then we took away your powers and let you fall right back into Vader’s hands.”

“I resented that, I think part of me still does.But you didn’t kill me. I see now that would have been the simpler path.” Leia admitted.

***

Leia could sense it when the light that was Ahsoka Tano left the space above Imperial center.She couldn’t help but ruminate on the Togruta’s words.The Jedi had considered killing her but they hadn’t.They’d seen her rising as a Sith and they’d interrupted that.She didn’t know what to feel.

She couldn’t sleep.She let her feet carry her through the Imperial Palace, gently turning the attention her guards away from her so they did not notice her passing.

She could sense it now, the pull of the cave far below the palace.It was a tiny, persistent seed of darkness, a promise of the possibility that had opened up when she had killed Palpatine and taken his power for her own. 

She sat on the final step of that long rough cut stairwell and looked into the impenetrable darkness of the cave.

Twice she had entered.The first time had gifted her the vision of Luke’s existence.The second had told her the truth of her mother’s death. 

She wondered, vaguely, what secrets lay in the darkness now.What further revelation could there be?

“Come.” It was less that a whisper, but she knew that voice.

“You’re dead, old man, kriff off.” Leia snapped.

Ghostly laughter answered her.


	16. Haunted

Leia could feel the cold rough-cut stone digging into her knees.The blackness beyond the mouth of the cave was absolute, pure void.She remembered how it felt to fall.…and how it felt to be lifted up by wings of darkness.****

But she didn’t want that again.Did she?

Her life was… okay now.She had her father, and Luke.Mara could return from Tatooine.Even Bridger was out there somewhere, a Jedi once more.

She wavered.Why did this feel inevitable?Why did it feel like the greater part of herself was waiting beyond the shroud of darkness?

_Leia_.That ghostly whisper teased her. 

He was waiting for her.

Leia woke.

She was on the roof of the West tower, teetering at the edge.Her Defender was prepped for flight.Had she done that?Why did she feel so cold? 

She reached out through the palace to find her father, or her brother.It was just… empty.Not just empty of force sensitives, but entirely empty of life.She cast her senses further.The chaotic mess of the minds of Imperial City should have washed over her.Nothing.The lights were there, she could see speeders moving in the distance.But she sensed nothing.

Experimentally, she summoned a pebble from the ground.It flew into her palm easily.She wasn’t force blind again, thank the stars… but something was wrong and she was afraid.

She called for help to her father knowing he would not answer.There was no one to help her.But still she called, crying out that he save her from this creeping fear.She would fall if he didn’t save her from herself.

Leia was being shaken by very strong hands.Her father’s mechanical breathing all she could hear.She opened her eyes.She was still on the roof of the West tower.But Vader was there, doing something he had never, ever done before.He had his arms wrapped around her, like a vice.She felt the hard edges of his armor.She could sense him.Right there.A familiar grey sense, that looked back at her with love and worry.

“I— couldn’t sense you.”Leia felt her hand still clutched around a pebble.That had been real.Or perhaps she was still dreaming. “I am I awake?”

“Yes, Daughter.You are awake.”

Leia began to sob.Vader’s arms held her fast.His mechanical breathing continued above her head.They were both knelt on the remains of grass that managed to grow all the way at the top of the tower.

“I don’t know what’s real.” She gasped.

“This is real.” Vader told her.“But I believe you are not well, my Daughter.Come.”

She was being pulled to her feet, she wavered, looking back to her father. “What’s wrong with me?”

Vader scooped her up off her feet and strode with her into the brightly lit turbolift.They went down to her quarters.He put her in bed.He sat next to her, and she looked at him, unreality washing over her in waves.

“This is real, Leia, stay with me.”

***

When she surfaced, it wasn’t like waking up… She hadn’t been dreaming she’d been… just gone.She felt at her neck for a force collar, but there was nothing there.That was good. 

Her brother was sitting next to her, looking much as he had the days after she’d killed the Emperor, terrified and exhausted.

“I’m okay now,” she whispered.

Luke shook his head, “I don’t think you are okay, Leia.”

Leia sat up in bed, looking around.It was her bedroom.Her father had been here the night before.Now it was just her and Luke.

“Why do you say that?” Leia asked.

Luke grimaced, “You used the dark side.It shows.” He sounded disappointed in her.

Leia lurched out of bed and stormed into her fresher.Amber eyes, just like before.But she hadn’t done anything.Had she?

“Were my eyes like that last night?” Leia asked, a feeling of dread stealing up in to her.

“Yes.” Luke told her, pained.“Leia, what did you do?

That grated on her, “I didn’t use it, Luke.I— I don’t know why they are like that.”

Luke frowned back at her, “Leia, you feel dark.”

***

It happened again.A tremendous sense of dislocation hit her.She was on a dusty plain, under a a red sky, surrounded by ancient plinths covered in writing she could not decipher.The air was parched and hot on her cheeks, and it was filled with voices.Some of the voices spoke basic, though in an accent that made it barely recognizable to her ears.Other voices spoke in hisses, growls, and whispers that did not seem manageable by human lips.

Leia felt an immense pressure weighing on her, the Force.The voices were all speaking at once.They wanted something she could not give…

Leia tried to find her own voice, but when she opened her mouth red dust poured out, falling to mix indistinguishable with the dust beneath her feet.She choked, she couldn’t get any air.She fell to her knees clawing at her throat. Her vision was starting to narrow, black shadows closing in until she could see nothing at all.

Then she was falling in darkness, she was no longer suffocating, she had no body, she needed no air.And there was only one voice.

_Leia_.

Leia woke.She was in her bed and her father looked at her radiating concern.

“Leia?”Her fathers bass voice, real, grounded.It had just been a dream.

She was terribly thirsty.

“I think it was just a dream.”

Vader shook his head minutely. “Look around yourself daughter.”

Leia looked.Her room was destroyed, her belongings atomized into piles of dust on the floor.The windows had been blown out somehow.That shouldn’t have been possible, you couldn’t do that to transparasteel. 

“What happened?” She asked.

Her father didn’t like that question, “You did this. Do you not remember?”

Leia remembered the taste of dust in her mouth, the sound of a million voices making demands of her in a multitude of languages.

And his voice.The one voice that had made any sense.Her Master.

Leia looked up at her father, looking through his mask, finding his blue eyes. “I don’t remember doing this.”

Vader sighed, “That is unfortunate.”

“What are you going to do?” She asked, trying to keep her voice calm.She was dangerous, they both knew that. But would her father do what was necessary?

“If you are not in control of yourself, you are dangerous, Leia. There are facilities in the detention levels where you could be contained.” Vader let the statement hang between them, clearly reticent to say more.

Leia hated this idea.She hated it completely and utterly.But she knew it was right.“Fine.” She said shortly.“But only when I go to sleep.”

“Very well.” Vader agreed. “But I must insist you keep Royal Guards with you at all other times.”

Leia hitched in a breath.She was about to become a prisoner in her own home.

***

The facilities her father had mentioned were far more than the force cage she had imagined.It was a windowless room, shielded with multiple levels of technology and duracrete woven through by Force cage shielding.

It had been hastily fitted out with a bed, a fresher, and everything she could conceivably need.Clearly Vader wanted this to appear as something other than a jail cell.She appreciated that.But they both knew what it was. Leia wasn’t fooling herself, if this condition of hers got worse, she was going to be locked in here around the clock.

At sundown she walked in willingly, her red guards standing back as the massive cell doors were locked into place.When the Force blocking properties of the cage were turned on she felt the noise of Imperial Center shut off.It was just her, in this room.A small universe where she could use her powers, locked away from the larger universe.

She couldn’t sense anything but her own mind.She re-examined her dream in this absolute privacy where even Vader and Luke could not hear her thoughts.

She’d heard her Master’s voice.All the voices on that strange red planet had coalesced into one.Palpatine.Darth Sidious. 

But he’d died at her hand.So what was this?What had he wanted to say to her?She lay in bed, waiting for sleep to take her, but the anticipation kept her restless.She had to know if the force cage was going to block what was happening or not. 

If it was an outside influence, it should be enough.She should be able so sleep here, safe and sound.

But what if it was inside her?What if somehow it was in her?

She hated not being able to trust her own thoughts.She got out of bed and looked in the small fresher mirror.The marks of the dark side were still on her.But she hadn’t chosen this.It was being done to her… but you couldn’t fall to the dark side without that element of choice, that was an essential teaching of both the Jedi and the Sith. 

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking? Leia thought bitterly. The Force was so vast, ancient and mysterious, perhaps they didn’t know anything at all.

She switched off the lights and lay in her bed.She turned her mind to one of the simplest meditations she’d learned from Master Luminara’s Holocron.Breathing in and out, sensing the Force, inside and outside. 

Calm.Harmony…

Leia slept.

***

Leia woke with the taste of the red dust in her mouth. Her heart sank.She had no memory of a dream, but she was sure she had slept.The room was intact, that was something.But the acrid dust... terrified her.She rinsed her teeth, there was nothing in her mouth but she could still taste it.Like sand watered with blood for a thousand years— salty and sulphuric, filled with an unspeakable history.


	17. Sleepwalker

“So you’re... sleepwalking?” Mara drawled.

Leia sighed through clenched teeth, she hated explaining it. “The first time I awoke on the roof of this tower.The second time I’d trashed my room with the Force.”

“Well, Kriff.” Mara said succinctly. “So you have to sleep in the um... guest suite?”

Leia rolled her eyes, “Yeah.But how about you? Are your powers coming backor what?”

Mara nodded, “Slowly, and if you’re going to ask me if I am possessed by some unknown dark horror that animates me while I sleep, Vaderalready asked and the answer is no.”

Leia giggled, “No?”

“Not that I’ve noticed, anyway.”

Leia sighed, “Lucky you.How are things on Tatooine?”

Mara gave her a reluctant smile, “Okay, I can’t believe I am saying this, but we are helping a lot of people and it’s great!”

Leia smirked, “Jedi Mara Jade.”

Mara shrugged, “It isn’t what I had planned for my life, that’s for sure.”

“So it doesn’t bother you... not using the dark side?” Leia asked curiously.

Mara smiled, “I guess I don’t really think of it like that. Doing good makes me feel good.”

Palpatine was probably spinning in his grave, Leia thought wryly. 

***

That night Leia returned to her cage.It cut everything out.Leia paced the room, feeling vaguely annoyed that somewhere red guards or other palace personnel were watching her on surveillance.Tonight, if she exhibited any strange behavior Vader would be notified immediately.

Leia curled on the bed, thinking about hearing her master’s voice.What would he say to her if he could?She’d never forget the look on his face as she impaled him on her saber and cut him from gut to collarbone.There’d been a moment of victory before his eyes had lost focus.She thought she’d understood… that as a Sith apprentice one gained mastery only by slaying one’s own master.It had been that way for millennia.

But she hadn’t risen, at least not fully, she’d been derailed, and she had to acknowledge that was probably for the best.She imagined vaguely what would have happened if she’d killed Vader, as she had barely restrained herself from doing all those months ago.She would have become Empress, she supposed.A fifteen year old Sith empress.And her brother the Jedi Knight. She smiled, glad that hadn’t happened.The Jedi probably would have banded together to kill her in that case.

Given her most recent problems, she wasn’t entirely sure they shouldn’t have killed her when they’d had the chance on Dagobah. 

***

She sat on the rough rock outside the cave.This had to be a dream.She couldn’t have gotten out of the cell.She looked down, she wore black Sith robes, rather than the nightgown she had went to sleep in.A dream.Good.

She gazed into the darkness, curiously.She wanted answers.If Palpatine had something to say to her from beyond the grave she would hear it.

But no ghost materialized.She stared into the void, sensing, as always, the exultation it promised.If she fell, she would fly.But this was a dream, and she wasn’t going back in that cave.If she did... she wasn’t sure who would come out.

She turned to take the stairs up out of the chamber.But there were no stairs in this dream.The stone was blank and uncut and she sensed nothing above her but rock. She sensed no minds but her own, and the nebulous darkness that waited for her, if she chose it.

She sat back down, content to wait the dream out.She was in her own mind, she was sure of it.Mostly sure.

Leia blinked.

Palpatine’s decapitated corpse lay in front of her. His head lay a few feet away.It was just a dried old husk.She stood and picked up the head, perversely curious to touch the ridges of her master’s disfigured face.

She held her master’s skull with both hands, peering into that face she had both loved and feared.Things had been so clear in those days, she’d been so focused... Palpatine had given her direction in this universe. Now... he was gone.She didn’t regret killing him.He’d deserved it.And, although she hadn’t considered it at the time, her family had not been safe while he was alive.Her Master had been trying to undermine her loyalty to Vader.Vader had been reticent to train Luke.If Leia hadn’t killed her Master there would have been a collision.It might have been her father that died. Or all three of them.

Her father had said that she and Luke together had destroyed the Sith.But she wasn’t sure that was entirely true.The Force ghosts whispering in her vision had been Sith. She knew that at a gut deep level.The Sith had not been destroyed, just dislocated, disembodied. They were waiting for her, on the red dust planet.

Leia woke.

She was in the uninterrupted silence of the Force cell. She switched on the light and looked in the fresher mirror.Her eyes seemed normal, brown, just the slightest tingle of amber on the edges.

She left the fresher and grabbed a piece of flimsy and a writing implement.

_I am awake.I am aware.This is real._She wrote.She gave a long look at the surveillance lens then turned off the light and lay in the darkness.

Leia did not fall back to sleep. 

She knew this was not over.The Sith remained in the universe, that is what her dream had told her.They were just waiting for her to fall.

***

The next day was a haze.Leia just felt so terribly tired…

*******

Red dust.In her mouth, in her eyes, under her fingernails.Leia used the sleeve of her robe to wipe at her eyes but they still stung when she opened them.

She froze.

She wasn’t on Coruscant. 

Oh, this had to be a dream.It had to be a dream.

She was on the red dust planet.She was leaned up against the Blackbird, with dust coating her clothing.

She was so thirsty.

Around her was the place she had dreamed about.Red dust, ancient ruins,and the heavy sense of death, everywhere, filling the air itself. 

She stood and popped the hatch of her Defender, retrieving a water packet and gulping it down.

She hoped she would wake up soon, she didn’t have any supplies.

She sat in the cockpit and closed the hatch.According to the ship’s computer she had made a very long hyperspace jump to a set of coordinates she didn’t recognize.

Was this real?

She cast her mind back.She remembered… speaking with Mara.Had she slept?Had she fallen asleep and gone walkabout?

Was this real?

She turned on the Blackbirds transponder, it would transmit a standard fleet emergency code.

She pulled up the star map.She was in the Outer Rim.If this was real…

She checked the Blackbird’s power levels.

She was really kriffed if this was real.With these power levels she wouldn’t be able to get back to orbit let alone make another jump.

She hoped she would wake up soon. 

In the meantime, she would have to look for water, just in case…

She left the Blackbird and began to look around.Mountains rose up in all directions.The mouths of massive caves yawned all around her.Where should she go?

She stretched out in the force and froze again.She was not alone.She could see no one, but in the force she knew they were there.The ghosts.She climbed to the mouth of one of the caves, so she could at least get out of the baking heat.Then she knelt in meditation.

They swarmed around her as if they had been waiting a thousand years.They spoke to her as they had before, incomprehensible, but with great urgency.

Then a solitary voice spoke from next to her and she opened her eyes.The ghostly form of her Master stood there, translucent but present. 

He smiled his terrible smile, _Leia, my child, you have finally found your way._

Leia could feel his presence, but it was impossible.She had killed him. 

_Yes.Well done, my apprentice.You rose to the opportunity long before I expected it of you_.Palpatine swirled around her loosing and regaining form, hardly more solid than the dust in the wind.

_Tell me child, why have you failed to take the darkness as your own?When you cut me down, it should have been your greatest moment._

Leia could sense his disappointment as if it were her own.

“Master, I—“

_Your excuses are nothing.You are here now._

“Master, I can’t control it.The darkness.It makes me crazy.”

Her Master’s ghostly laughter filled her ears and penetrated her heart. _That is because you resist. You must let it live in you, my child.It has always been your destiny to do so._

“I can’t control it.It makes me hurt the people I care about.” Leia pleaded.

_You are soft.But it does not matter._

Then Leia felt him in her head.It wasn’t only Palpatine, all the ghosts that had gathered were piercing through her like burning knives.

She wasn’t just falling, she was being dragged down…


	18. Red Dust

Leia woke with red dust in her mouth.She was in an Imperial medbay, she knew that much from the sounds of the droids around her.She opened her eyes.The light was far too bright.

She reached out in the force and was stunned at the speed and breadth of her reach.She was on a Star Destroyer, in the Outer Rim.The Chimaera.Thousands of minds were active around her, all sharp, focused, Imperial officers.

She sat up on the med berth, her head swimming. She was alone in the medbay except for the droids.

A Twobee droid approached her, head bent with solicitous care, “Hello Ma’am, let me get you some water.”

She drank and drank. 

It had been real. 

This time it had been real.

Thrawn was approaching, his sense in the force was unmistakable.She’d always admired the shape of his mind - it was diamond sharp.

The medbay door slid open and the Grand-Admiral entered, bowing deeply.“Imperial Highness, I regret I didn’t have an officer here to greet you when you woke.”

Leia blinked.She had lost time.After the ghosts had…

She pulled her attention back to the man in front of her, “Tell me everything, Grand-Admiral.Did you receive my transmission?”

“Yes, Ma’am.Your transmission was received by the ISD Widowmaker. They found you on a planet restricted by the previous emperor, Morabund.They would have ignored a fallen ship but that it was one of my Defenders, so I was alerted.”

Leia sighed, “I’m glad.My power cells were too depleted to get airborne.”

Thrawn inclined his head, “They are ill suited to cross-galaxy travel without recharge, Ma’am.”

Leia sensed so much more than she had before.Thrawn was fond of her, she had known that much, but now she could see that he was loyal.But his loyalty was not just to the Empire, but also to his own people, the Chiss.He was fiercely invested in their protection.When he looked at her he saw the future of the Empire.And right now he was worried about her.

Leia forced herself to smile, “Grand-Admiral, have you notified my Father?”

“Yes, Ma’am.He is on his way.”

Of course he was.

“When will he arrive?”She asked.

“Four hours, Ma’am.Would you like me to escort you to an executive suite so you can refresh yourself?”

She walked with Thrawn through the corridors of his ship.When they encountered officers, the men and women bowed and back stepped, eyes downcast.They were afraid of her in a way she wasn’t used to.

Once she was alone in the suite she went to the fresher.Sure enough, her eyes burnt hot amber and her skin looked like it had been scoured with coarse sand.

She entered the shower and let the hot water pour over her.She’d forgotten to ask Thrawn how long she had been missing.It had felt like… a day.But her nails were long and caked with red dust.She was filthy as if she had slept rough for weeks.

She pulled on a formless ship suit, all that was there for her other than her filthy, dust caked robes. 

She pulled a comb through her tangled hair, trying to understand what had happened.

The Ghosts… Palpatine… They had done something.

The door to her chambers hissed open.Darth Vader.That had been fast, or she had lost more time…. Her hand was still clasped around a comb, though her hair was dry now.

She stood and approached her father.He held her shoulders in his massive hands, looking into her face.She could feel him probing her in the force, curiously gentle.

“I am glad you are alive, Daughter.” Vader said finally.“You disappeared from my sight.”

Leia pulled away and sat on the edge of her bed.She felt terribly tired. “Something is wrong with me, Father.” She admitted softly.“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Vader sat beside her, so close they were almost touching.He put a massive hand on her back, he was trying to comfort her.

“You were gone for two weeks, Daughter.Do you remember what happened?”

Leia shook her head.“I spoke to our Master.**”**

Vader tensed at the mention of their master.“You spoke with Palpatine.”

“His ghost.There were others too, but I couldn’t understand them.They did something.”

Vader expressed no shock at this, “Yes, I can sense you are changed.Do you feel as you did last time you fell into darkness?”

Leia let out a long sigh.“No.My senses are heightened, my power is increased, but I— It feels different.”

“You seem in control.”

Leia winced, she wished that were the case.“No.Something isn’t right. I’m loosing time.I just… wake up and time has passed.”

“I see.” Vader replied gravely.“You must come back to Imperial Center.”

“Help me sleep.” Leia sighed.

Vader understood.He placed his hand on her head, “Sleep, daughter.”And reality stopped.

There were no dreams.Only the force.Leia floated free with no body to burden her.The galaxy, known space, and so much more.Alien worlds.Life she had never imagined.Tremendously, achingly vast…

She thought of Luke.She could see him, in the Imperial Palace, in his room painted like sand and sky.He was worried about her.About their father.He didn’t like holding court by himself.

She thought of Mara.Mara was…lit up in the force.Brighter than Leia had imagined her friend could be.How very strange. 

She thought of Ezra.Ezra was near.She wished she could reach out and touch him.But she did not dare. Not like this.She was too deep in the force.She was not herself.

She woke.

She was alone in her quarters on the Chimaera.She sensed her father on the bridge, in discussion with Thrawn.They knew each other well, it seemed.She had not seen it before.They’d known each other since before the rise of the Empire…. That was interesting.

She winced at this constant flow of information.It threatened to pull her back into that galactic frame of mind.It was too big, too powerful.She didn’t want this.

_Father_.She spoke to his mind, pleased when he was immediately aware of her.

_Leia.Wait there._

Leia waited.It seemed like no time at all and her father was back next to her.“I’m not right.It’s too much.”

Vader cared about her so much.He wished he could take this pain away from her but he did not know how.She didn’t know either.

“What did they do to me?”

“Tell me what happened to you, Daughter.” Vader insisted.

“The Sith ghosts, they went in to me.They changed me.”

That bothered Vader.He was angry.He was angry at his own lack of knowledge. But he no longer used his anger to fuel him in the force…

“Nothing is hidden anymore, Father.” Leia said desperately.She didn’t want this.Couldn’t stand it…

Time passed.

She was alone again.The lights in her chamber had been dimmed.Her father’s presence was near. 

Leia wanted to cry.She wanted to scream.Every time she turned her attention to a person or object, she could see them, feel them, know their secrets.It was too much. 

Yoda.He could help her.He had helped her before.But he was absent from her vision, hidden.Obi-wan too, was beyond her sight.

Ezra was close…

She picked up her comm link, letting her hand hover over the input.The numbers swam into her mind as if from a great depth.She dialed in the code as it appeared in her mind.

“Leia?”Ezra Bridger’s image sprang to life transmitted in miniature at the palm of her hand. 

Leia smiled.She liked Ezra Bridger.“How are you?”

Ezra looked confused, “Are you alright, Leia?You seem… off.”

Leia had to agree that was the case.“I want to see you.I’m on the Chimaera.Can you come?”

Ezra laughed at that, “Do you really think I’m that stupid?Thrawn’s ship?”

Leia smiled, “Scared?”

Ezra grinned toothily, “I sense your father’s presence too.If you are trying to trap me, you aren’t doing a very good job.”

Leia shook her head, feeling strung out.“I’m not.But I don’t think I can leave the Chimaera just now. I’m… not right.”

Ezra peered at her, looking sympathetic.“You don’t seem alright.Listen, Leia,I’ll see what I can do.But promise me this isn’t a trap.”

Leia shook her head slowly, “I just want to see you, Ezra.I don’t want to trap you.”

“Stay there Leia.You are really weird right now.”He ended the call.

Time passed.

Leia heard the chime at her door.She smiled and used the force to open it.

A rather short Stormtooper stood there.

She smiled, “Ezra!”

Ezra let the doors slid shut behind him, pulling off his helmet.“Dammit Leia, you’ve gone in deep.”

“Yeah.”

Leia smiled at her friend.She’d missed him.

“You look like you’ve embraced the dark side, Leia.But your sense in the force is… something else.”

Leia shrugged carelessly, “It embraced me.I had no choice.”

“Kriff.”

“Yeah.I can’t turn it off," she admitted. 

“Okay Leia, I’m gonna think what to do.I’ll comm you, okay?I can’t get caught here.”

Leia reached out, her father was in his hyperbaric chamber on the Executor.She refocused on her friend, “Vader hasn’t sensed you yet.Go.”

Time passed.

Had that been real?Had Ezra Bridger really come here? She felt as though she could pull forth any knowledge in the universe, but she also felt confused, as if there were no longer any boundary between dream and reality.

Vader was talking to her.She pulled her attention to her father, “Sorry, what?”

Vader’s presence flickered with concern. “Is it getting worse, Leia?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will you come back with me to the Executor?”

Leia blinked.She made her father nervous but she didn’t understand why.She nodded.

“Are you talking me home?”She asked hazily.

“Yes.Come Leia, I will take you to the Executor and we will go home.”

Leia leaned into her father’s shoulder on the shuttle ride over.She sensed his surprise at that, but he was not displeased.She… knew she wasn’t herself right now.But her father’s presence soothed her.

Leia smiled lazily.She felt weightless.The ship entered Hyperspace.Soon she would be home. 

It was so hard to focus on anything.People appeared and disappeared.They spoke.She spoke.She was loosing her grip on this life. 

Then she slept.Really slept.For a long time.

***

Reality stung.That’s how she knew it was real.She was back in her rooms in the Imperial Palace.The windows and furniture had been restored.And there was her brother, at her side. Right where he belonged.

“Luke.” She said, her voice a whisper.

“Leia!” Luke breathed, eyes suddenly brimming with tears.“You’re back.

Leia nodded, “How long?”

“Father brought you back three days ago. But from what he said you’ve been out of it for awhile.”

“Yeah.” Leia agreed.The past few days were a blur to her.She could remember, but it was as if it had been happening to someone else.She grabbed her comm link, just to see if the number was still in its history.It was.At least that call had been real.Had Bridger really snuck onto the Chimaera to check on her?

Luke looked awful.He must have been terribly worried about her.But he was shielding his mind in the force.Had their father told him how powerful Leia was right now?She didn’t begrudge him his privacy.She imagined he felt as helpless as she did.

***

When she was alone she hit redial on her comm, wondering if it were day or night wherever Ezra was.

He appeared in her holo looking tired and harassed, though his expression lightened when he saw her, “Leia.”

“Hey. Sorry I was really out of it last time I called.” She winced, what a massive understatement.

Ezra raised both eyebrows, “I’ve never seen you so bad, Leia.Whatever the hells you are doing you need to stop.”

Leia slammed her holo comm down on a table so she could throw up her hands in frustration.“I didn’t choose this!” She shouted, then realize how unstable that made her look and tried to calm herself.

“You still aren’t okay.” Ezra said softly.

Leia sat down, looking at the small projected form of Ezra. “No.I don’t even know if you really snuck aboard the Chimaera to see me or if that was a dream.I hate this.”

“Oh, that was real.” Ezra assured her. “You’re lucky I have so much experience sneaking on to Imperial vessels.”

“Yeah.” Leia agreed. “Thank you.”

“I have an idea of someone who… might be able to help you, Leia.But I have to ask him.It may take awhile.”

“Who?”

Ezra shook his head, “No one you would know.”He smiled, “And I really dunno if he can help you, but he senses the force in a different way.Worth a try, that’s what I think.”

Leia leaned in, “Well, now you’ve got me really curious.”

“Just try to hold it together.I’ll be in touch.” 

Ezra terminated the call before she could say anything else.

She cast out in the force, but she could not sense him anymore.He was too far away.She wondered about this mysterious force user Ezra had in mind.At this point she’d take help from anyone.


	19. Atollon

If she did this, it would hurt her father and her brother.She knew that.First they would think Leia had lost control again.Once they knew the truth they would be furious, at least Vader would be.She imagined Luke would be disappointed.

She’d gotten the text comm from Ezra an hour ago._Tell no one._He’d written, and provided a set of coordinates for a jump, and a precise location on the planetto which they led.And so she jumped for Atollon in her Tie Defender, without telling a soul where she was going.

The moment she reverted from Hyperspace she felt a wave of energy course through her, leaving her feeling… seen by something that was… to say the very least… not human.

She sought Ezra in the Force.He was there, at the coordinates he’d provided so she angled down through the atmosphere.Atollon was red and hot, spotted sporadically with massive gnarled trees.

She sensed no other human minds except for herself and Bridger.There was wildlife, to be sure, a lot of it, but the only other sentient mind was something else…. Was this the master Ezra thought could help her?It must be.

She set Blackbird down unsurprised to see Ezra had camped out with a small ship of his own, and the faithful Ghost Squadron droid, Chopper. 

Leia swung out of the Blackbird, grinning at Ezra.“Hi!”

Ezra smiled, “Leia.You made it alright. No… weirdness along the way?”

Leia shook her head, “I can sense something very powerful on this planet.”

Ezra nodded, “That’s Bendu. But I need to explain some things before you meet him.”

They sat in Ezra’s camp.

“How did you find this place?” Leia asked.

Ezra grimaced, “We had a base here.Your lot destroyed it.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, your blue-faced friend, actually.”

Leia sighed, feeling uncomfortable.“I’d say it wasn’t personal, but when it comes to you, Bridger, I think it might be.You killed someone he liked, apparently.”

Ezra scowled, “Good.”

Leia raised her eyebrows at that, “I thought you were a Jedi again.”

Ezra barred his teeth, “Oh, I am.But when it comes to Thrawn, he has to die.He’s too dangerous to remain alive.”

“Sounds like vengeance to me.” Leia said softly.

“That’s rich coming from you, Darth Leia.”

Leia sighed, the signs of the dark side were still on her, she couldn’t help that.But what mattered was that she hadn’t given in to it, at least not while in she was in her right mind.

“And there is something you need to understand, Leia, because I don’t want this to come as a surprise down the line.”

Leia blinked, Ezra was radiating with anger and resolve. 

“I am helping you because you obviously need it.But I will never ally with your father or any Imperial.”

Leia gave a small nod, she hadn’t really expected otherwise.

“And if I get a chance to take your father down…” His voice trailed off.

For a chilling moment Ezra’s intent was absolutely clear to her.He wanted Vader dead.She’d felt that way, once. “He’s changed.” Leia protested.

“I don’t care.” Ezra spat. “He’s irredeemable.”

Leia sighed, she wanted Ezra’s help.She desperately needed it, but…

“Why are you telling me this? I’m not going to help you attack my father.” Leia breathed.“Did you think I would?”

Ezra shook his head, looking away. “No. I just need you to understand.I’m helping you but, Leia, I’m not on your side.”

“Okay.” Leia whispered, “Then you should know this, if you attack my father, I will stop you.”

They sat in brittle silence. She knew her father had hurt Bridger terribly.She’d watched with rapt fascination at the time.She’d imagined a future where she too would torture Jedi, interrogate them without mercy…She’d really thought that.

“I am sorry about what Vader did when he captured you at Lothal.And… I’m sorry for laughing about it at the time.” Leia managed to say.She had to admit she had changed over these last three years.It had felt like everyone else was changing while she remained constant, like a rock.That just wasn’t true.

Ezra didn’t turn to her as he spoke.“You were my only friend when I was an Inquisitor.Without you… I never would have been able to hold it together.”

“I wish we could be on the same side.” Leia said softly. 

Ezra twitched but didn’t look at her.He radiated sadness.“Let’s go meet Bendu.I should warn you, he’s extremely powerful and he does what he wants.”

With that Bridger got to his feet and held a hand out to her.She took it and let him pull her to her feet. 

She kept holding his hand, and he didn’t let go either as they walked across the darkening valley.

Then she saw it.She’d thought it was one of the massive Atollon trees until it began to shift and move.It had armor that looked like the leaves of the trees, but its face was simian. Milky white eyes gazed through her, and she felt the Force all around them, powerful, impossibly neutral, and quite terrifying.She’d never imagined a force user could balance so easily on the edge.

“Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight, what have you brought to my world?”

“My friend Leia.She’s… I hoped you could help us understand what is wrong with her.”

Bendu lowered his massive body until his head was at their level, white eyes unblinking.

“Leia Skywalker, Sith Acolyte.Interesting.”

Leia flinched to be called Sith.Everyone else denied it, they assured her that she hadn’t fallen _that_ far, that she was dark but not… Evil.And when had being called Sith started to feel like a bad thing?

“You are conflicted.” Bendu spoke directly to her, “I have called you Sith because that is what you believe about yourself.”

Leia wanted to argue that this was something that was happening to her, that it was out of her control.“I’m trying not to use the dark side.”

“But you hunger for it…”

“Are you saying I should just give in?” Leia asked, feeling unsteady as she gazed into the huge creature’s face.

“The Jedi believed they could destroy the Sith.The Sith hoped to destroy the Jedi.All of you are eyeless infants trying to climb without hands!” Bendu roared. 

“Will you just tell me what to do?” Leia yelled, frustration getting the better of her.

“Unlearn what you think you know.The spirits only have the power you give them.Think for yourself, Leia Skywalker. They infect you because you want what they have to give.”

_Did_ she crave the dark side?Yes, a hundred times yes, she missed it like a fish would miss water.Leia could feel her heart beating in her ears.She did not understand this creature, but she wasn’t ready to stop trying. And there was one question she had to ask, which had been gnawing at her for weeks.

“Bendu, please tell me.Is my Master— Is Palpatine alive?”

The great creature laughed like thunder. “Does the force speak to you in his voice?”

“Yes.” Leia admitted in a whisper, a wave of frustration rising up in her.

“It is an illusion you have created to torture yourself.”

“He’s gone then?” Leia asked, desperate for confirmation.

“I have given you my answer,” said the Bendu.

Then the creature turned away from her, rising to his full height and addressing Bridger, “Your path leads to your own destruction.”

Bridger looked ashen, “Are you saying I should turn back?”

The great beast laughed then, loud and long, dark clouds amassing as he did so, his eyes blazing all the brighter. “Think for yourself, Ezra Bridger. The fate of many rests with you.”

With that the great beast curled in on himself and burrowed under the ground.In moments it was as though he’d never been there.His presence in the force became imperceptible.

Darkness had fallen. She heard Ezra sigh and light a hand lamp.It showed his features in a pale red light, “So, that’s Bendu.”He looked completely exhausted.

Leia felt the same.

The walked back to Ezra’s camp slowly, the lamp casting a dim halo around them.

Leia wasn’t sure what to make of the meeting.She felt like she had more questions than answers, and the questions themselves were inchoate things. She wanted to be directed, she wanted to be given an answer, a path, a remedy.

_Think for yourself._ She had been told.How very unhelpful.

They lay under the night sky, the fire burning between them.

She thought about how it had feel to hold Ezra’s hand in her own, the power of that simple connection to another human being.She wondered what path Ezra could be onon that he was moving toward destruction.What had Bendu meant, that Ezra carried the fate of many?

The next morning Ezra was withdrawn.He looked at her with sleep starved eyes, “Go home, Leia.I’m sorry Bendu didn’t have more answers.Sometimes it takes awhile for his advice to make sense.”

“Did his advice to you make sense?”

Ezra looked away, his shields tight around his mind.“Yes.”

“When am I going to see you again?” Leia asked, suddenly wishing they had more time together.

Ezra looked back at her, face neutral, shields up.“What does the force tell you?”

Leia reached into the depths of her powers, and she saw conflict.She heard the buzz of lightsabers clashing against each other, red againstgreen**.**But she didn’t want that future, she wouldn’t duel Ezra, he was her friend!

“We fight.”She said finally, it hurt to even say it.

Ezra sighed, “That’s what I’ve seen too.”He looked at her with a warm gaze but did not reach out to her. “But the future isn’t a set thing.We have to think for ourselves, like Bendu said, not be ruled by ghosts or visions of future battles.”

Leia nodded, she imagined throwing her arms around her friend and asking him to imagine a different future.But she could not.She turned away from him and began the startup sequence for the Blackbird.

Ezra didn’t look any happier that she felt.He sat back down at the campfire, watching her go.


	20. Destiny

Leia made the jump straight back to Imperial Center.In orbit, she could feel her father’s presence zero in on her.

Vader was not pleased.

Leia angled down through the atmosphere, landing as close as she could to her father’s seething force presence.

He met her on the landing pad.

“Are you awake?Are you lucid?”He demanded, striding toward her, clamping his hands over her shoulders.

Leia didn’t try to get away.She’d known Vader would be angry.“Yes, Father, I’m here.I’m sorry for making you worry.”

She could feel Vader prodding at her mind and she let him in.Showing him Atollon, Ezra, and the creature, Bendu.

“That was impulsive.” Vader said finally.“It could have been a trap.”

Leia nodded. It _had_ been impulsive, but she wasn’t sorry.

***

_Think for yourself._

That was easy for Bendu to say.Leia was fumbling in the dark. She was back in the ‘guest suite’ in the lower part of the Imperial Palace.It was night and her room was locked down securely.No doubt some very bored troopers were watching her on a security feed right now. 

She thought of the vision she had had, of her blade locked in combat with Ezra’s.She didn’t want that future. Did it have to come to that?What did it mean?This time Ezra had helped her, and he’d done so before…. He cared about her, she was sure. 

_You are on a path which leads to your own destruction._ Bendu had told Ezra.The words chilled her.She should have asked him what it had meant.What was he up to?

She dialed his comm code.It didn’t connect.He’d terminated that comm code.That stung.What was he up to that he’d help her and then push her away like this?

She started to reach out for him in the force, only to be brought up short by shielding of the room.She hated this.She understood why Vader had thought it was necessary.He’d probably thought the worst when she’d disappeared… again.

Luke had been genuinely angry at her.

“You really don’t think about anyone but yourself, do you Leia?”He’d snapped when he’d saw her. 

That hurt. She wasn’t _trying_ to be selfish, but not everyone had problems like she did.She was being haunted, literally, by Sith ghosts for kriff’s sake.

No.That wasn’t quite true, was it? 

_It is an illusion you have created to torture yourself._ Bendu had said.

Leia didn’t know what to think.She’d thought that Palpatine, or the Force, or the combined spirits of the Dark Side were taking her against her will. That was what she had preferred to believe…

If it had all been an elaborate self-deception…

No.The force really was speaking to her, it pushing her in a direction she couldn’t understand.That much was real.She’d just— It had felt like she was being controlled.Just like Palpatine had controlled her when she’d been alive. 

Leia felt sick. Was she in control or not?Did she have a choice or not?

***

Leia didn’t sleep at all that night, but when Vader came down in the morning she stifled her yawns and followed him back up through the Palace.He wanted her in throne room while he held court.Stars knew why he wanted her company but she couldn’t really say no, could she?

So now she was sitting on a cushion on his dais, watching as Emperor Darth Vader met with petitioners.Fun. 

During a lull in the meetings her father spoke to her. 

“You must tell me the truth, Leia.What was that creature on Atollon?” Vader asked after sending the royal guards from the room.

“Bendu.” Leia supplied.“I have no idea what sort of alien he is, but he was powerful in the force.”

“Do you think he poses a threat?” Vader asked.

Leia blinked at that.Bendu had been terrifying, but mostly because of how naked she had felt while being scrutinized by his powers.“I don’t know.But he felt just ancient.”

“Could he be an asset to the Empire?” Her father prodded.

Leia shook her head, “Father, I think we should just let him be.Cordon off Atollon, post a ship in orbit, but leave him be.I… might need to talk to him again.”

Vader radiated displeasure, “Did he have answers for you?”

Leia shrugged.

Vader did not comment further, but she could feel him mulling over the problem.He was irritated by his own lack of knowledge, she could sense it. It had been Palpatine who’d held a vast knowledge of Sith sorcery, and he was gone. 

He was gone.Bendu had all but said she was doing this to herself.

The weight of the night’s missed sleep weighed upon her. Her eyes felt heavy.Her muscles were stiff. 

She could feel herself drifting…

She went to the force cage of her own accord. 

***

Vader wasn’t there waiting for her when she was released from the ‘guest suite.’But she knew, the moment she reached out in the force, that the galaxy was somehow changed.Something terrible had happened and Vader was incandescent with rage.

He was aware of her in the moment she was aware of him.

_Come_.

Her heart was in throat as she made her way to the upper palace.All she could sense was Vader’s blinding fury. Her concern redoubled as she realized where her senses were leading her.

Luke’s chambers. 

The halls were utterly deserted and there was a fine mist of smoke and dust in the air.

She entered Luke’s chambers to find them a scene of utter destruction.Furniture was smoldering, smoke hung thick in the air, tinging the blue walls grey, and numerous possessions of Luke’s were strewn across the floor in various states of damage.

In the middle of all of it her father stood stock still, currents of dust eddied around him. He turned slowly to look at her, but said nothing.The sound of his mechanized breathing filled the space between them.

But in the force Darth Vader radiated darkness.This was the father she had first met when she was just thirteen years old.Unremitting anger rolled off of him and below that the aching pain of loss.

“Was there an attack?” She whispered, dreading the answer.“Is Luke okay?”

A growl came from beneath Vader’s mask.“There was no attack.I did this.” He waved a gloved hand at the wreckage around him. “Your brother has not been killed, or abducted, or whatever other foul horror you are imagining.”

“What then?” Leia asked, uncaring that fear tinged her voice.

Vader let out a harsh cough of a despairing laugh.“Your fool brother has run off to join the Rebellion.”

*******

Luke had left a note.Scrawled on a piece of flimsy were the words:

_Father, Leia, I love you both, but this not my destiny._

“Well, kriff.” Leia breathed.“Can you sense him at all?”

“No.” Vader growled.“But we will find him.”

“You’re sure he’s defecting?”She had to ask.

Vader was seething.“Yes.”

“Okay.” Leia whispered.“I feel like I am missing something.”

Vader’s anger spiked in irritation but he held it in control as he answered.“The prisoners I took at Hoth, he absconded with them.”

“Who?”

“The Imperial traitors Dodonna and Kallus.”

That was unexpected.Leia hadn’t even known Luke was aware of the prisoners Vader had kept in the Palace detention levels.

“You’re sure?” 

Vader rounded on her, one gloved hand reached toward her and she suddenly, acutely felt the force holding her immobile. “No more questions.”

Leia was silent.Her heart was beating hard in her chest and she felt stirred by a mixture of fear and excitement. 

What are you going to do?She wanted to ask, but held her tongue.

All around them the force just… waited.

The sting of Luke’s betrayal was only just washing over her.After everything she had gone through for him, how could he do this?She’d been imprisoned, shackled, put in a force collar, and had her powers taken away, all to bring him home and keep him safe.And now this…

She wondered if it was Kenobi she should be blaming.The old Jedi had left, who was to say he hadn’t invited Luke to join him?More than ever she wished her father had never welcomed his old master onto the planet.

Her father.Vader had turned to the kriffing light side because he couldn’t bear to train Luke in the darkness.Perhaps Luke couldn’t understand that sacrifice, but Leia knew all too well how hard it was not to answer darkness’s call.

This was _their_ fault.Luke, Kenobi whether by design or by happenstance they had struck a terrible blow to Vader, and to Leia herself.

She watched her father in the force tentatively. He was furiously angry, but would he let the darkness lead him?

And if he did…

Finally, there was no doubt in her mind, none at all, what she would do. 

She let this thought linger between them.

Vader released her all at once and she fell into a crouch, heart beating wildly. The dark side whipped around Vader like a whirlwind.He was reaching, searching for his son, ready to attack anything and everything.

Leia did the only thing that made sense, the natural thing.She knelt at her father’s feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story continues in Cursed or Something 3: Luke's Marvelous Destiny.


	21. Sequels!

Just another note to let readers know the story continues in part 3, Luke's Marvelous Destiny, a completed short work revealing Luke's point of view, and finally part 4, Unnatural, for which I am posting chapters weekly.


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